Owner Notes Performance Increase With D.U.I. And Live Wires Install

As the owner of everycarshow.com, North Carolina resident – and transplanted Pennsylvanian – Randy Hofer has a vested interest in a hot-rod that performs well and looks good.

His ’65 Sting Ray coupe was built by Street Vizions in Pottstown, PA, and is designed to go from A to B with the quickness while looking sharp. It relies on a stock Mark IV big-block that’s been punched out .060-inch. An Eagle Forged crankshaft Speed-Pro forged steel connecting rods combine with a set of Speed-Pro pistons to put the engine’s final displacement at 440 cubic inches. Larger 2.19-inch intake and 1.88-inch exhaust valves have been employed in the Mark IV oval-port cast-iron cylinder heads, while an Erson cam and lifters provide the airflow motivation. On top, an Edelbrock Torker II intake manifold and Holley SS830 carburetor feed the beast.

A healthy powerplant, right? But no matter what, Hofer couldn’t get the engine to rev over 5,000 rpm no matter what he tried – and that’s where Steve Davis and Performance Distributors come into the picture.

“Nothing else worked,” says Hofer. “It just wouldn’t run. There wasn’t enough voltage to keep the engine where it needed to be. It’s not a radical engine – it’s only 10.5:1 compression.”

Once he installed the company’s Davis Unified Ignition distributor and Live Wires from Performance Distributors, the car came alive. The D.U.I. was a simple hookup – one wire and the built-in 50,000-volt coil and Dyna Module worked right out of the box.

There wasn’t any work required on his end except a few minutes spent informing the Performance Distributors team about the specifications of the engine, whereupon they set up a custom distributor advance curve based on that information.

“The distributor and wires are foolproof – they just work,” says Hofer. It’s a night and day difference. All I know is that these parts went in, and the car’s a running machine now – it’ll take whatever I give it.”

See a complete gallery of Randy’s Corvette frame-off build here.

For more information on the complete line of products from Performance Distributors, check out their website.