New Distributor issues

[cplkillian]

Ok so after some consideration, and some questions on here, i made the decision to go HEI and also picked it up from skip white. i got it stabbed and the wires ran. picked up a new coil and noticed that the new dist has 2 wires, one with a hole and one that is female blade type. i have not used a capacitor. and i have no spark.

any suggestions?

Mike

[James Mc]

Ok so after some consideration, and some questions on here, i made the decision to go HEI and also picked it up from skip white. i got it stabbed and the wires ran. picked up a new coil and noticed that the new dist has 2 wires, one with a hole and one that is female blade type. i have not used a capacitor. and i have no spark.

Not sure what You mean by, it has one with a hole and the other is Female Blade type?? The Distributor should have a set of wires that plug into the cap.( Closest to the Dist. The other plugs are for the Ign and the Tach. Are these the plugs You are talking about?

[fdbdw]

The one with the hole could be the ground wire, run one of the cap screws through it when you put the cap on, you will not get spark if you dont ground that wire, if I remember right the tach wire is yellow and the red is power, without seeing it im thinking the one with the female connector is the tach and the one with the hole ( probably black) is the ground, try grounding it like I said above and see if you get spark

[cplkillian]

ok i may have caused some confusion. there are two wires coming out of the dist, one is the tach wire, one has an eyelet and is black, and then there is a power wire for the coil coming from the wiring harness. on the old dist there was the wire from the harness going to the + and then a wire going from the dist to the - on the coil. is it going to be the same here?

[OhOneWS6]

Originally Posted by fdbdw

The one with the hole could be the ground wire, run one of the cap screws through it when you put the cap on, you will not get spark if you dont ground that wire, if I remember right the tach wire is yellow and the red is power, without seeing it im thinking the one with the female connector is the tach and the one with the hole ( probably black) is the ground, try grounding it like I said above and see if you get spark

Not the cap screws. You want to run on of the screws that mounts the coil to the cap through it. There should also be a metal piece that goes under the coil and has a blade on the other end for the ground from the distributor harness.

[OhOneWS6]

Give me a minute and I'll go take pics of the HEI in my boat.

[cdowns]

you also need to run a hot wire for the dizzy feed// you cant use the original truck wiring

[cplkillian]

ok here is the dist, it still utilizes the external coil like factory

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY...ht_5189wt_1167

[fdbdw]

OK my bad, I thought you had the coil in the cap dizzy,

[cplkillian]

yeah i realized that i wasn't detailed enough, i went with this one cause it still gives the impression that its original.

[OhOneWS6]

EDIT. nevermind. I'll leave the pics for anyone else that finds this thread looking for HEI info.

Yellow is tach
Red is 12 V +
Black in ground

[fdbdw]

Thanks OhOne, Ill have to pop the top off mine and see if I have those same coil screws, Ive had mine on the cap screw for a year now, I havent had any issues but I sure would like to mount the correct way.

[cdowns]

if you read the ebay description it tells you to take the two wires and hook to the coil// it also tells you to dump the original wiring/// a brand new piece itr didnt come with printed instruction sheel?

[cplkillian]

no it did not come with instructions, and it is a brand new piece. i bought the same one that i posted. and it does say to connect the two wires to the dist, and i have also ran a new power wire to the coil since starting this thread. i will continue screwing with it more tomorrow.

i will try and give them a call tomorrow and see if i can get more insight.

[fdbdw]

skip white has very good customer service, you should give them a call

[OhOneWS6]

Originally Posted by fdbdw

Thanks OhOne, Ill have to pop the top off mine and see if I have those same coil screws, Ive had mine on the cap screw for a year now, I havent had any issues but I sure would like to mount the correct way.

Anytime. At least it helped someone even if it was not the OP.

[C20-67_N_MO]

Originally Posted by fdbdw

skip white has very good customer service, you should give them a call

X2!!!

I've dealt with them in the past and have always been helped in a timely matter.

[tim21391]

you should only have to hook one wire up after you get the coil thing squared away

[VetteVet]

Here's my take on this. You bought an HEI distributor that requires an external coil with a positive and negative wiring terminal hook-up just like stock. Now the website says the coil must be 12 volts but what do they mean by that? The original coil is 12 volt but has a resistor wire to drop the voltage down to avoid burning up the points in the original distributor. The new distributor is going to need a full 12 volts from the coil to fire properly and if you use the stock wiring you're only going to get 8/9 volts. If you bypass the resistor wire and run a wire from the ignition unfused terminal on the fuse panel to the coil ( this is the preferred method when converting to HEI) then you will get 12 volts but the coil will overheat and probably die in a short time.
I think they will tell you that you are going to have to get a coil rated at a full 12 volts and wire it from a key on voltage supply like I stated above.

[cplkillian]

Right, i got a new coil and have it wired to a switched source,

i also called skip white today and am waiting on Charlie to call me back. Once i get some answers i will post it in case there are others who have issues.

Originally Posted by VetteVet

Here's my take on this. You bought an HEI distributor that requires an external coil with a positive and negative wiring terminal hook-up just like stock. Now the website says the coil must be 12 volts but what do they mean by that? The original coil is 12 volt but has a resistor wire to drop the voltage down to avoid burning up the points in the original distributor. The new distributor is going to need a full 12 volts from the coil to fire properly and if you use the stock wiring you're only going to get 8/9 volts. If you bypass the resistor wire and run a wire from the ignition unfused terminal on the fuse panel to the coil ( this is the preferred method when converting to HEI) then you will get 12 volts but the coil will overheat and probably die in a short time.
I think they will tell you that you are going to have to get a coil rated at a full 12 volts and wire it from a key on voltage supply like I stated above.

[cplkillian]

Ok after talking with Charlie, he said the two wires on the dist, red and black, red goes to the + side of the coil along with your switched power and black goes to the - side.