Carb and ignition swap. 80 35w w/VV dist?

[351-lincoln]

Here is the questions. i have a 351w in my 1980 lincoln Mark VI. i have put on a H.O. truck intake, 600holley. now im looking at the distributor scene its going from dura spark III to dura spark II. it needs to change. now i have done some measurements on the truck dura spark II distributor and it looks like the shaft is long enough, about 3/8 of the oil pump drive shaft makes it into the distributor.
so that should be enough but i wanted to ask what everyone else has done on this swap.

[Pesty351]

I used an old Mallory dual point job with a pertronix conversion kit.

[351-lincoln]

I used an old Mallory dual point job with a pertronix conversion kit.

do you recall the distributors shaft length difference?

[gadget73]

You should be able to use your original distributor if I'm not mistaken. I think the main difference is in the box itself. The pickup in the distributor ought to be the same. Possible the plug needs to change but that should be it.

[351-lincoln]

You should be able to use your original distributor if I'm not mistaken. I think the main difference is in the box itself. The pickup in the distributor ought to be the same. Possible the plug needs to change but that should be it.

there is nothing but a rotor in the distributor for dura III.

[1987cp]

I thought Duraspark III used a Hall effect sensor like the later TFI cars, but with no module mounted to the outside of the housing?

Any stock-replacement 351W D-II distributor will work just fine. You can run it with a D-II or many aftermarket ignition modules. I have one of mine wired to a four-pin Chevy HEI module because it was cheaper that way, and the one in the car I got from torquelover is wired to a Crane Hi-6. A fresh rebuilt distributor should run you around $90 at AutoZone, and they even offer a choice of gear material (convenient because I needed to run one with a roller camshaft).

[gadget73]

oh, that junk with the crank trigger. EEC III had that, but I was under the impression it only existed on 302 cars. Interesting

OK, yeah the truck distributor should be what you need then.

[1987cp]

Do we know anything about this "truck distributor"? If he's feeling the need to measure it, I'm somehow doubtful it was in a 351W .........

[351-lincoln]

thought so, thanks guys. i just wanted some working input. the measurements said it would work fine, just wanted the real world input.
thanks again.

[351-lincoln]

Do we know anything about this "truck distributor"? If he's feeling the need to measure it, I'm somehow doubtful it was in a 351W .........

yes it is a 351w distributor. i was questioning it because if you look at the stock distributor shaft that came out of my car and compare it to the one that come from the truck. my stocker is longer by around a 1/2". so i measured.

[1987cp]

Weirdness!

[351-lincoln]

peep the difference.

[351-lincoln]

checked out advance auto parts web site. with my car entered and under distributors. they have 3. one that looks like a TFI, one that looks like what came on the car and the 3rd looks like a dura II.

[351-lincoln]

napaonline shows the same things...maybe ill just order the one that is under my car but is dura II. it looks as if the shaft is longer... only one way to find out.

[1987cp]

I presume that top one is what your Duraspark III unit looks like? If so, you're serious about there being nothing at all in there - I can't see any electronics at all!

Extreme funkiness about that shaft length. Can't imagine more than one oil pump shaft was used, though.