HEI Install - SUCESS!!

[javadoc]

I finally blitzed through enough of the 'honey-do' list to "earn" some time to work on the truck tonight. My goal was to rip out the tempermental points ignition system and install a new HEI system that I had purchased... and crossed my fingers that it would actually not be a fiasco.

Now, I'm absolutely no newbie to cars. I've had the bug since I was too young to legally drive and have done some fun stuff (turbo'd VW Rabbits, engine/tranny swaps... before and after spontaneous crankcase ventilation...fun stuff). I just haven't ever had anything with a carb, or w/o computers in the vehicle, or heck a distributor for many years. So of course I have been researching the process of the swap for about 3wks now,and thought that I could tackle it

I enlisted the help of Mrs. Javadoc to perform the duties of popping the ignition until I was close to TDC. When we were close, I turned the engine by hand (breaker bar), and set to work of ripping out the old-busted and installing the new-hawtness. The plugs were so wasted, I'm wondering how the thing even ran.

At any rate, 2hrs, 3 Dr. Peppers and only one bloody knuckle later (my par is 3), and I was ready to fire up this puppy. I cranked, immediately the engine fires, but was running funny and wouldn't idle. So I shut it down, positive that the wires are all a)installed correctly, and 2) securely seated.

Sure enough, timing was off. Retarded by I dunno, 8degs. So I advanced the timing to 8*BTC and the thing idles SUPER smooth now, and blips of the throttle are crisp! I'm amazed, because the engine was so slow to respond w/the points ignition. Being that it was after midnight, I didn't go for a test drive to see if this improved power/response any, or let it idle better... or eliminated the hot-start problem that I have. But, I'll surely take it out tomorrow.

So, thanks to this site, it was a painless and problem-free swap. It's great to have such a splendid resource for these old trucks.