Are hei distributors better than regular distributors?

Answer 1

HEI is not just the distributor, it's the entire ignition system and yes, they certainly are better. Plugs last longer, fuel burns better and there is quite a bit less maintenance.

The differences are that the coil of a HEI system has to run on a solid state module which is usually mounted somewhere outside of the distributor as opposed to the older style which runs on points that are INSIDE the distributor.