OK, we swear that this is the last time we'll allude to driving under the influence when writing the title for a Performance Distributors Davis Unified Ignition. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Test MuleWe've got a buddy who has a '73 Land Cruiser with a 258 six-cylinder that's bone-stock with the exception of an old-style electronic conversion kit and a Holley two-barrel carburetor. Despite the reputation these engines have for developing low-end torque, this specimen was hampered by the fact that it had to spin 36-inch tires with 4.10 gears, the factory three-speed transfer case, and a swapped-in SM420 tranny. In the rocks it performed fine, but on the street or in the sand the word dog often came to mind.
That's the StuffWe suspected that a Performance Distributors D.U.I. HEI distributor and a set of its Livewire custom-fit high-performance wires would help wake up the stock six, and we were right.
A couple of the benefits of an HEI are that the larger caps put the terminals farther away from each other for less chance of crossfiring. They only need one wire to feed them a source of 12-volt key-on power, and you can find replacement parts for them anywhere. The benefits of a D.U.I HEI distributor are that they come with a high-performance cap, a 50,000-volt coil and Dyna-module (gives more dwell than a regular coil for hotter spark), and most importantly, each distributor's advance curve is custom-calibrated for each application.
The ResultsAfter installing the D.U.I. and even without regapping the plugs to the 0.055 inch recommended by Performance Distributors, we noticed an immediate improvement in off-idle and midrange power. In fact, the owner was more than a little surprised to be able to spin the rear tires on wet pavement. In the dunes, the Land Cruiser now rocks. It's still no V-8, but the improvement in power is noticeable. Starting is improved; it now fires right up with the turn of the key instead of laboring for a couple of seconds and then catching.