Well, here is my story. I bought an Accell distributor cap several, several, years ago. The screws that cam with it, we're a different thread than the plastic OE base. So of course, I broke off the ears. I ended up at the junkyard and pulled one from a junker. Installed that, but I wasn't finished with Accell. I got a hold of there corporate office. The guy on the phone ended up sending me an Accell distributor in the mail. I installed that, and my truck ran like crap. I ended up, pulling the guts out of one of the OE distributors and installing them in the Accell, using parts from both to make a new distributor. That has been in my truck for a long time with no issues.
Sound familliar to a number of others I've read, is part of why I'm leery of some of these cheaper units... I've been using ACDelco ignition components at least though! Just not sure I want to go ACDelco for the distributor given, you know, plastic.
I run the Summit aluminum distributor.
Free Shipping - Summit Racing™ Vortec Distributors with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Distributors at Summit Racing.
www.summitracing.com
This one has been in the running for me...
I have almost 300K miles on my original distributor. It's had the cap/rotor and wires replaced a couple of times, that's it. The cap has always been AC Delco.
I don't tow a big trailer, Though. Just a utility trailer every so often.
Mainly I'm keen to replace it because I don't have any history on it, I got the truck with 114k on it, had to do a lot of work... trans output seal, water pump, all cooling hoses, radiator, tires, etc, etc, etc, everything I thought "Huh, that common problem could be a problem soon..." ended up being a problem in pretty much the first year of ownership
I was into the truck nearly what I paid for it, not that I didn't expect problems, but I've learned that a 'suspected' pain point is better to simply replace and improve instead of having an issue far from home.
1. The OEM plastic piece-of-crap 7.4L Vortec distributor is not the same as the OEM plastic piece-of-crap Small-Block Vortec distributor. The big-block distributor has a different gear, and a "Thermal Washer" just above the gear. There may or may not be other differences. Point being, the 7.4L distributor has additional heat-shielding for the plastic housing. Apparently, the distributor gear has to be shortened to make room for the "Thermal Washer".
2. None of the above seems to make any difference when scrapping the OEM plastic piece-of-crap distributor for an Aluminum distributor.
3. Most "billet" distributors are NOT "billet", they're a machined casting. The one you've linked-to seems to be a genuine "billet" job, not a crappy Chinese casting.
4. The distributor you've linked-to would be the one I'd buy if I needed one. I expect the OEM gear is melonized, and that's what they're claiming. They must be boring/honing the OEM gear to fit their larger, .500 mainshaft. I know that distributor gears are a common problem area for the Vortec big- and small-blocks; and the V6 too. Thanks for posting that link.
5. Why not pull your OEM distributor out for inspection? If there's nothing wrong with it...put it back in and don't obsess. The three common problems--excessively-worn distributor gear, excessively-worn shaft bushings, and broken screw-tabs on the housing--would be easily seen. You could slap in a new cam sensor, but if the original is still working good, I don't see a lot of point to replacing it. The distributor cap and rotor might be worthwhile replacing, the Vortec caps seem to be a weak point.
I'm probably going to order that billet one from BET, I'd asked them in like... October of 2020 about it, they did say it was a 'drop in' replacement, explained why they used oilite bushings for the upper bearings instead of rollers/balls (they used to apparently and had failures, popular with boats I guess and they didn't do well in marine environments?), mildly worried being in California and not being able to point to a CARB number for the part... when I take my truck in its always gone over with a /fine/ tooth comb :/
Maybe I should explain a bit more what this is a part of to get some opinions on if I'm taking things too seriously? I'm genuinely a bit uncomfortable with this long trip I'm taking and want to make /SURE/ I don't have any issues during it.
I've got the ACDelco HD rear shocks, my truck being a 98 seems to still have the OEM shocks in the rear and the passenger side unit has a mildly
melted plastic cover since its close to the factory exhaust and this truck sees pretty heavy use when its running, I've towed up the donner pass in the summer with my trailer before...
I ordered an Energy Suspensions trans mount and OffRoad Designs Solid Competition engine mounts as well, I haven't seen a lot of talk about these here, but I got them in and they're... beefy, I wanted it a "one and done" for life job replacing these.
New oil cooler lines, do I need to explain this? Its a GM, they all weep at the connections
, all new ACDelco
Trans lines, all ACDelco, had to buy NOS since they're discontinued :/ I also have an 11"x11"x1.5" Tru-Cool H7B thats already been installed for a while as a trans cooler looped in after the radiator, also already have a PML deep pan on the trans.
Valve cover gaskets (again, they all leak right?)
New door pins (driver side door sags, got greasable fittings for the drivers side)
Fuel Pump, ACDelco, the pump in my truck has had a
LOUD whine the entire time I've owned it, its been that way for 14,000 miles, I fear the day it goes quiet... so I'll replace it!
Got some OffRoad Designs braided brake lines since its hard to trust 24 year old brake lines on a /long/ trip like this with a fully loaded truck and trailer.
Literally JUST paid 5vortec7 for a Big 3 Kit
Front crank seal is leaking a bit so, gonna replace that too...
Planning on have the local shop I've on stuff before to do the engine/trans mounts, oil/trans lines, valve cover gaskets, fuel pump, crank seal and distributor since I just don't have time these days to work on things myself.
I literally have $1,100 in parts so far just sitting here to go on the truck and I'm trying hard to make sure that what I do put on it is a good new OEM part or a part that will exceed the OEM part significantly. Longest trip I've taken was about 5-6 hr, about 300 miles in a day a year ago... going to be going from California to Florida... and back to California with a 19ft 5,500lbs travel trailer thats as aerodynamic as the broad side of a barn.
