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Distributors
Pontiac V8 Distributors
Six Ways to Fire a Poncho — Distributors for Pontiac V8s
The distributor has to answer three questions at once on a Pontiac V8: what wiring the car already has, whether it is carbureted or running EFI, and how much rpm the engine is going to see. Butler splits this category by those answers so you can start from your combination instead of guessing at a part number.
You will find factory-style HEI units, ready-to-run billet distributors that need no box, Pro Billet race distributors that do, dual sync and HyperSpark EFI distributors, Pertronix points conversion modules and an MSD crank trigger, from MSD, Holley, Pertronix, Edelbrock, RPC and Top Street Performance.
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1. Which Subcategory Is Yours
Each group below exists because it answers a different question. Read the one that matches your car and ignore the rest.
| HEI | One wire in, coil in the cap, nothing else to mount. The right answer when the car is a street driver and you do not want a box on the fender. |
| Ready to Run | Billet housing with the ignition module built in. Three wires, no external CD box, and an external coil of your choosing. |
| Pro Series | Magnetic trigger only. These require a capacitive discharge box and an external coil, and they are the ones built to hold timing at race rpm. |
| Dual Sync and HyperSpark | Hall effect sensors feeding an EFI ECU. The ECU controls timing, not the distributor. |
| Crank Triggers | For when the distributor itself is no longer accurate enough and you want the ignition triggered off the crankshaft. |
| Points Conversions | Keeps the original distributor in the engine and replaces the points underneath the cap. The choice for a numbers-matching car. |
2. Order These at the Same Time
A distributor by itself is rarely a complete purchase on a Pontiac. Four things get people on install day.
| The gear | It has to match both the shaft diameter of the distributor you bought, .491" on stock-type units and .500" on most aftermarket billet units, and the material of your camshaft. |
| Check the block | If you are dropping a distributor into a Super Duty or Ram Air V casting, you need Butler's sleeve before anything will seat correctly. Confirm that before the distributor arrives. |
| Coil and box | A Pro Series unit is useless without a box. A ready-to-run unit still needs an external coil. An HEI needs neither. |
| Clamp and wires | Butler CNC mills its own billet clamp around the offset and elevation of stock and aftermarket blocks, and the distributor end of your plug wires has to match the cap style. |
If you are unsure which group you belong in, the deciding factor is almost always fuel. Carbureted engines choose between HEI, ready to run and Pro Series. Fuel injected engines belong in the dual sync and HyperSpark group.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Email our tech team at tech@butlerperformance.com. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.