Clearly some of the aftermarket choices are rather glass jawed at times. Some just plain aren’t worth a hoot to start with.
After messing with this stuff some 30 years or so, I’ve developed a couple observations that might help.
First, no one gives it a second thought, but never do ANY welding on the vehicle without first disconnecting the battery. I know this will NEVER happen at a muffler shop. At least I’ve never seen it done. Unless your gas welding the pipes/mufflers. Been one really damn long time since I’ve seen that done.
The electronics in these “kits” and even in the HEI modules do not lend themselves well to welding practices.yet many people never think about exhaust work and battery connections and electronics. Especially the diode rack in the alternator.
Don’t forget engine to frame and body grounds and nice tight clean connections. You’d be surprised over the years how things manage to become “lost” or have simply disappeared or got loose.
It also wouldn’t hurt to check voltage output when running on these cars. Voltage regulators CAN and Do get out of spec. Have seen several cars just in the last 6 weeks that were over 15.7+ volts.
The HEI pickup coils really weren’t that problematic on breaking the white/green wires. At least until the heat baked them. Which will happen if aged enough. If you look at one upside down there is a white plastic connector where the wires go into the frame of the coil. The wire insulation will crack right just under that plastic and you may not see it from the top, , but when turned upside down it’s right there. The easy solution here is to take the coil and place a little RTV at that junction before the wires insulation cracks and especially when new. This acts as a real nice strain relief for this location. This is a much better solution and heads off a potential age/heat related problem before it starts.
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