HEI or TFI ignition ?

[budman]

I have an 89 Wrangler with motorcraft 2150 and free flow exaust,I've done the nutter bypass but that didn't help much. So which is better $64.95 from ebay for a new HEI or about the same amount for TFI upgrade which will use my same tired old distributer and original ignition module? Seems like new one would be better to me but any feed back would help.
Thanks George

 

[54cj3b]

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Howell Engine Developments Inc. - Home

 

[DIRTY-CJ]

George, I went with the TFI Juicebox and I cant complain at all. 1983 cj-7 I-6 258 cid. Cheap and easy! Is there a problem with current set-up?

 

[budman]

Hi Ken,
It runs ok but seems to load up alot when its cold and when its raining it does it more.Stumbles sometimes when you give it gas.Its got the original distributer with the nutter bypass done to it but I want to upgrade to something with more spark energy and less mess under the hood.I like the HEI style distributers that are out there but have heard of people having problems with the gears on them.If I go that route I could get rid of all the old stuff under the hood?
Thanks George

 

[retired]

The HEI gear - get the soft gear on it - easy to switch them. The cheap Chinese clones use a gardened gear and wear the cam gear too much.

The TFI conversion - uses the TFI coil to gain a little more whallup - but they have to have the ignition resistor removed to get a full 12 volts - increases the primary current. But the stock Ford type ignition module cannot handle the increased current for long - they die a quick death!

The HEI has to have the ignition resistor removed too, but it's designed for the full 12 volts.


Nutter bypass? You still have the stock carb. That only sets the carb to full rich all the time. It helps when you have a stumble that you can't find, but not much performance improvement.

Switch to a Ford MC2100 - much better performance, both power and mileage.