The engine I have is a 1991 350 with vortec heads. All I need to pass the smog if I need to is the original TBI unit and exhaust manifolds.
The area behind the firewall is vacant. There is nothing behind it so it worked out great. I do not have any problems with heat from the engine.
And yes if I did not have the rear distributer I would not have had to modify the firewall. But I am not a fan of Ford engines so I stuck with the Chevy.
Don Your conversion is SWEET, very clean. You need to me very proud of your work.

If I were to do a 4.3l or 5.7l conversion on mine I think I would convert it to waste spark. That way no distributor issues anymore.

Don, when you get a chance take off your cap and rotor and make sure the little screens are not in the holes in the bottem of the distributor where they belong. If they are there, pull them out and throw them away.

Clay

I would use fancy electronics but they cost to much and far to complicated. It has been my experience the more complicated things are the better chance of those items breaking when you are in the middle of nowhere and at the most in-oportune time.
I like to keep things simple.

I was thinking the same... That getting rid of the mechanical dist would make for an easyer fit.

I am curious how well one of the older non HEI dist would fit, they were a lot smaller and you can get them convetered to pointless.

The nice thing with coil pack type ignition they are a lot more tolerant of water. ITs on my wish list for the 2.6 but then again I live in a semi arid region... for now

Kevin

Clearancing the firewall was not much of an issue. Took me only 1 hour and I like the HEI units better. Your correct regarding the water issue.

The thing about waste spark that makes it really attractive is it's simplicity. Not a single moving part in the whole system unless you count the crank. No friction wearing parts at all.

Overall, it's far simpler than any distributor system. You want to see complicated, you ought to take a look at the FSM for a 51 Buick. I'm re-wiring one for a guy on the side, and I'll tell you what... the advancement of transistor technology has made everything we think of about cars so much simpler. You should see just how they regulate the generator on one of those things. He's upgrading to a 12v alternator as part of this custom-resto and I'm glad.

Clay

Seems like alot of work for only 190 horses.

Thanks for the compliment!
I like your SAS!

I thought there were 2 distributors, the large one, and the smaller one like on mine which has a remote transformer(?). Aren't they interchangable? That's a BIG dist you're running...
The dist on mine is close to the firewall, and the wire harness was a tight fit back there.
Haven't looked inside the rotor cap since the summer, but next time I do I'll look for those screens...

A lot of work for 190HP.........
Until you've GOT the 190HP, that is, then it wasn't a lot of work at all!
At double the torque of the 2.6L, I need very little throttle to move quickly around town.
And did I mention the vastly improved acceleration ???
Also, don't overlook the incredible acceleration.
The 3" exhaust sounds sweet, too!

The lower GM 1st gear A/T (3.06 intead of 2.83), and the lower GM tcase gears of 2.72:1 (to the Mitsu 1.944:1) = better gearing range (no more 2nd in low range = 1st in hi range), and a crawl ratio of 38.495:1 (compared to the Mitsu 25.409:1). The increased torque in the 4.3 multiplied by the lower crawl gear means almost 3x the power at the wheel in lowest gear. Sound useful to you? Does to me when in Moab, or in CO at above 10,000 ft elevation.
All in all, for the stock Mitsu with the Oz low tcase gear swap, you still have the factory torque, however this way everything's increased. And there are 4:1 swaps available for this tcase, and Klune gears (2.7's or 4.0's) are also available, which would drop the crawl to over 100:1

Yeah the swap's a lot of work, but it's a different feeling driving the rig when you built it yourself.

...and don't overlook that acceleration!

You are correct Don. I dumped a LOT of money into the 2.6 in an attempt to get more power. All my power was in the higher RPM range, no good for off road. My 350 makes 250 HP and over 300 pounds of torque. Couple that with a Muncie SM420 tranny with a first gear of 7.25 to 1 and the NP231 transfer case with a low range of 2.72 to 1 and I have a crawl ratio of 82 to 1. I can put my truck into 4 low in first gear and drive up to a wall. let the clutch out and at idle without touching the gas It will chirp all the tires without stalling. This is without touching the gas. And the idle is at 850 RPm. You simply cannot do that with a four cylinder. I would have done this a long time ago if I had had the equipment. It is a completly different truck and if you were to drive it you would never go back to a four.

A nice advantage as you pointed out is the RPM that you make good power at with a biger motor. And as many of us know, most engine mods that increase power signifigantly increase the RPM it occurs at , displacment is a good solution.

The only free ride is supercharging by an exhaust driven system or (typo edit) a belt driven pump. You get your power and at whatever RPM you want it at.

That said I am pretty happy with an auto, a turbo 2.6 and the lower 2.85 transfer case gears. It does not get stalled or bog down and has power to spare. The TQ and HP figures are good as is the driving experiance.

Someday I might go for a larger motor but this works for me.

Kevin