Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

My truck is a 1987 chevy half ton and i just swapped a 350 in it. I cant find the wire in the harness that sends 12v to the distributor
So should i run a 12gauge wire from the 'ign unfused' on the fuse panel to the distributor ?

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

You can, but fuse it.

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

alright will a 30a inline fuse work?...also i can find the ignition unfused in my fusebox?

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

thats a bit of overkill but would work fine.
The most I have read of HEI pulling was 7.5 Amp....
So 14 gauge wire and a 15 amp fuse would be more than enough for less than a 15' run of wire... (including length of ground path!)
If you just have the 12 gauge on hand thats no problem, but I would run a smaller fuse.
When a problem occurs, the faster the fuse blows, the better...

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

Make sure you have the right voltage. Older chevy's have less than 12v going to the distributer. I don't remember how much you need for an hei.

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

dont know if this will help
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...?topic=11766.0

http://www.73-87chevytrucks.com/tech..._V8_engine.jpg

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

I always run 12V to the distributer... you will need it with the HEI:metal:

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

Blackout, 87 had HEI. There must have been an HEI dist in it before the swap, right? OR did someone change out the dist? The feed wire should be a pinkish color 12 guage. I had a friend who swaped out motors and "lost" the wire you speak of. He found it as soon as he turned the ign on when a fuse link got smoked. The wire dropped down and got inbetween the tranny and the eng. Just some thoughts, jim

Re: Power to HEI..for all you electrical gurus
 

Jim you are correct. They do have HEI dist but i couldnt find that wire to the dist so i was gonna make my own. but yesterday i found it tucked under the firewall, I plugged it in and motor fired up real nice after sitting a couple of years. Thanks Guys..well if i ever have a points distributor and switching to HEI i now know how to wire it!