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Pro Series
Pontiac V8 Pro Series
Locked Down Timing — Pro Series for Pontiac V8s
Pro Series billet distributors are the race answer on a Pontiac V8. There is no module inside them and no coil on top: they read a magnetic pickup and hand a clean trigger signal to a capacitive discharge box, which is what keeps timing stable when the engine is turning serious rpm.
Butler stocks the MSD 8563 Pro Billet for Pontiac 301 through 455 and the Top Street Performance Pro Series Pro Billet, both with fully adjustable mechanical advance and the ability to lock the advance out entirely for a crank trigger setup.
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1. The Two Units and How They Differ
Both are CNC billet, both are magnetic trigger, and both require an ignition control box. The differences are in the shaft and the advance.
| MSD 8563 | Billet aluminum housing and base, a QPQ coated polished steel .500" shaft guided by a sealed ball bearing, a maintenance-free magnetic pickup and precision reluctor, and chrome moly advance plate and weights with the weight pins staked and TIG welded. It ships with an HEI style cap and rotor and accepts Cap-A-Dapts. It must be used with an MSD ignition control and will not accept a vacuum advance canister. |
| TSP Pro Series | A .491" gear, a hardened steel shaft on a sealed ball bearing and a sintered steel bushing, a slip collar, solid brass cap terminals and a color-matched wire retainer. TSP rates it stable to 10,000 rpm and supplies bushings and springs so you can build the curve you want. |
2. Lockout and Crank Trigger
Both units can have the mechanical advance locked out. That is not a street setting.
| Why lock it | With the advance locked, total timing is fixed and the ignition is triggered off the crankshaft instead, which removes distributor shaft deflection from the timing equation. |
| What it costs you | No mechanical advance means no idle timing relief, so the combination has to be built for it. If the car sees street miles, leave the advance in and set the curve with the supplied parts. |
3. What Has to Go With It
These are the least complete distributors in the catalog, by design.
| Box and coil | An ignition control box is required and the coil is external. The TSP unit calls for 35,000 volts or more and cannot be used with a generator or a ballast resistor. |
| Gear | The MSD is a .500" shaft and the TSP is .491". Pick the gear for your shaft first, then for your camshaft material. |
| Emissions | The MSD 8563 carries no CARB Exemption Order number, which matters if the car has to pass inspection. |
Butler builds both of these into complete kits with a box, a coil, wires and separators, which is the easiest way to be sure the trigger and the box are speaking the same language.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Call our tech team at 866-762-7527. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.