#72 EL CAMINO UPGRADE#
#72 EL CAMINO WINDOWS#

I never heard of an HEI grenading itself like that before. I wonder how many of the 'speed' parts we pay dearly for at Summit, Jegs, etc, are really cheaply made Chinese knockoffs of once quality products. But who knows. Now I'm running a Cardone re-man. My guess is a circlip holding an advancer weight broke, allowing the weight to get thrown and 'run over' by the rotor.

#72 EL CAMINO UPGRADE#

This was a Summit Racing brand HEI upgrade distributor from 14 years before.

#72 EL CAMINO WINDOWS#

The cap had two large windows and the coil discharge voltage was just going wherever it felt. This was RUNNING! And honestly, not running that bad once the distri-blender puree'd the parts into smaller, more digestable pieces. The advancer weights strewn about, along with many unidentifiable chunks of crap. The rotor was split in half! The rotor contactor was completely bent over 90 degrees. I pull the cap and rotor to find this mess. So I turn out the garage lights and see an electrical storm arcing behind the cap and onto the firewall. While reaching around the distributor to try and 'correct' the timing I get zapped! Goddamn car just shocked me. Damn thing makes it the whole 30 miles with nothing but a slight 'miss', as if the ignition timing is out of whack.Īt home I immediately investigate with the engine running. It's still running pretty bad but seems to have fixed itself enough after revving a bit, so I figure no harm in getting as close to home as I can. I'm parked in a bad spot so I limp to a gas station with the prayer that bad gas caused it, and fill it up. I'm able to restart the engine but it still runs real bad, like a vacuum hose is loose or something. I assure them I'm fine and have towing on my insurance, no need to stop. She heard the bang and saw flames from the exhaust.

Before I can lift the hood, sis calls me asking if everything's okay. I merge over to the shoulder and try to figure it out. It's backfiring, bogging down on power, not sure what's going on. Suddenly I hear a BANG and the engine immediately runs like E36 M3. It was night and I was cruising about 70. I was driving on the interstate from some family gathering and my sister and her husband happen to be behind me. There is no group of people against El Caminos, from Prius-driving granola types to coal-rolling diesel bros. They simply rule. After driving an El Camino for 15 years, I know one thing for certain.

72 el camino