I posted a while back about re-doing the ignition on my '69 300. There was LOTS of discussion about what to do, considering I had the MP orange box kit...it being junk/not-junk, etc. I originally installed it, even though the non-originality and bad reviews bothered me, but a couple craigslist sales later...and you know how the story goes.

I thought about getting a re-built distributor, Mopar wires, plugs, Pertronix III module/coil and light advance springs, but that was an expensive proposition, ~$300. I changed my parts list to this:

Skip White distributor, w/ male cap, $65
Summit universal 8mm HEI wires, $36
Summit street HOT coil, black, $23
NGK 3332 plugs, $15

Everything went in like a champ. Now, this distributor does NOT look stock (it's got a LUMP on the side for the IGN box). The non-stock parts really bothered me, if you remember, but I thought I would let it slide for some improvement in tech and driveability. I used some "chair" adapters to bypass my ballast resistor, but may make it more "fake" later by hollowing it out and adding a wire behind it. The distributor has a better advance curve, but probably NOT as quick as the MP distributor curve.

The car starts up nice and quick (after pump 3x, as long as there's fuel in the bowl) and the idle nice and smooth. I have yet to go hard into it because I need to hook up the exhaust (still) next.

Now, IDEALLY what I would have like to have done was go with the MP distributor (like the light weights and light springs), only with a Ignitor III in it. However, it seems there is no way to externally trip the Ignitor III with someone else's mag trigger. It's a shame, too, because I think it + the coil it goes with is nice setup.

While I was at it, also replaced stock 7-blade fan/clutch with 5-blade fan I got of eGad and Hayden thermal clutch. Impossible to measure a difference in the little driving I did, but maybe it'll help.

Oh, sorry for no pics, darkness came upon me in the midst of my fun over the w/e and I was unable to get any really clear photos. I'll try this w/e.

Why not just recurve your distributor? What makes you think the MP unit has a good curve? In my opinion they have junk curves out of the box, just like a stock unit. In fact, that goes for all distributors out of the box, including MSD.

Bill it depends on the factory distributor, they vary somewhat. They aren't hard to recurve, and you don't need a machine. You can curve it wrong with a machine, just as well as you can curve it wrong without one.

The simplest way to start is to remove the heavy slotted governor spring. Yours will be a little trickier to curve since the heavy car will make the engine more prone to detonate, and I assume you've got taller gears too like 3.23s.

The first thing to remember when changing distributors and changing curves is to ignore the service manual's recommendations for base timing. You need to figure out what works best for total timing and the base and curve the distributor to get that. The total timing is the more important number.

that's an awful cheap price for a dist (I'm assuming it is rebuilt) & iirc someone the other day had an issue with one of them. A person could have gone with a rebuilt 440 point dist (Autozone/rebuilt/cheap) with the Pertronix III conversion which would be hidden/look stock/touted to be a killer setup (multiple sparks/rev limiter) but I dont think you'd want to spend that much now since you've already made a purchase.

May-haps...and thought about going that way initially, but I liked the HEI terminals on this distributor, and the principle seemed sound. Besides, 1/2 the cost of the other route was a quality overcoming many faults! If it fails, well, then I'll do the Pertronix III thing, and that way it will have had a little bit longer time to flesh out and there should be more feedback on those units.

Yeah I wanna try the Pertronix III on a circle burner but it would be pricey plus it's a claimer eng.

That's both the trouble (and beauty) of the Moparts board....so many options, so many people "who have done it." At least it gives you the ability to choose from some well-informed, tested options, as opposed to only relying on magazine ads and marketing pitches!

Post a pic when you can, i'd like to see what it looks like.