Normally, I stick to known brands and pay the premium. However as of late, I've been noticing a lot of companies selling us knock off goods with their stickers, while we're still paying a premium for their product. Case in point: MSD's Street Fire distributor is made in China, much like this Skip White unit that I just picked up. For $80 dollars, I received a 65,000 volt HEI distributor as well as a set of universal Accel 8.8 300+ Ferro-Spiral Race Wires. The wires alone are $99.99 on Jegs, so basically it's like getting a free distributor, and a $19.99 discount on the wires.

Too good to be true? That was my first thought. My second thought was I'd buy the pair, and check out the distributor first hand, then show you guys the results. Worst case scenario I scrap the dizzy and use the plug wires. So, onto the pictures:

The box is branded "TSP", or "Top Street Performance." Clearly a very generic name.



What's inside? A completely assembled HEI distributor. No added frills or even instructions. It was packaged very well though:



Now, my first impression of the assembled product surprised me. I was expecting obvious signs of poor quality control and workmanship, inferior plastics, terrible machining tolerances, etc. However, everything seems to be top notch, exactly what you would expect from a distributor 3 times the cost. That's on the outside though. Time to do what any real gear head would do: Take it apart!

My initial findings again, are surprising. I found a high quality adjustable vacuum advance unit, welded weight pins, nicely crimped and sealed wiring; Again, what you would expect in a name brand part. The Ignition Module has no name or way of identification other than the manufacturer's numbers, so at this time I will have to say that I cannot vouch for the quality of the electronics. The polished finish of the distributor body is flawless.





Here's a critical one: The drive gear. This one appears to be average quality, it's nothing exceptional as it's just a run of the mill cast iron drive gear for use with flat tappet cams.



Up top, I have nothing but good things to say about the cap, rotor, and coil. I've heard rumors of the plastic being cheap and brittle, but when compared to my MSD cap and rotor, the difference is negligible. All of the cap terminals as well as the rotor have brass contacts, which we all know are superior to cheaper aluminum contacts in durability and conductivity.

The coil once again "appears" to be high quality, but that's hard for me to say for sure. Nothing about the weight or outward appearance would give a hint of poor quality. The carbon button is constructed with a brass spring and a Buna-N insulator.









The plug wires are high quality as expected from a name like Accel. They are a factory sealed product, so I'm a little baffled as to why Jegs sells them for $100 while White can sell them for $80 WITH a distributor.







So, the final verdict: As long as Skip White sticks with his current supplier (Top Street Performance), you can't go wrong with his HEI distributor if you're on a budget. The distributor normally sells for around $40 dollars plus shipping. The MSD Street Fire normally goes for about $145. Jegs and Summit each have their own distributors which are no different from the White or MSD unit ranging from the $90-$130 dollar range.

Feel free to discuss my findings. :thumbup:

 

Don't belive the 65,000 Volt claim. That kind of voltage will light up the whole distributor making it look like a Tesla coil gone nuts.

 

Me either, I should have added that in the review.