No spark- HEI swap
 

Swapping in new to me engine. Had HEI distributor. My 69 Firebird did not. I couldn’t find and power source on fuse block that had power only on run/start. I did try just hook in to a spot just to test distributor. No spark.
After some suggestions I was able to tap pink wire coming out of multipoint on passenger top of steering column. I confirmed it had run/start power. I am a bit concerned about that wire as a place to tap in. Any thoughts?

Ran new wire to Bat terminal on HEI.

Replaced ignition module, coil, cap and rotor.

I had spark. Engine was popping a bit as this is a first start in this car.

Battery died. Charged it up. Now… no spark.

I will check all the connections. But frustrated.

I'd check for a blown fuse?
A pink wire goes to flashers which is fused. (not sure this is the one wire you used)

Also not sure where the resistor wire is on the car, but sometimes they are after the firewall on engine side. Could connect to the original wire under dash and see if it is 12 volts or more? (resistor wire would probably be less than 12 volts)

But check the wire you connected to now to see if it is switched?

:confused:

The easiest way to do this is to connect 12V battery voltage to the HEI via a SPST relay. Use the factory coil (+) wire to trigger the relay.

Yup, use a relay triggered by the coil + wire. That's what I did with the HEI that I had years ago, and still do for various electronic add-ons that need 12v while cranking. It also takes a good bit of load off of the dash harness.

One thing to note, you need to diode protect the excite circuit for your dash GEN light, otherwise power will back feed to the alternator and the engine won't shut down on key off.

If you're running a 1 wire alternator and don't have a functioning excite trigger and not using the dash light, there's no need to diode protect.

What i did back in 77.
Run wire from full 12v source to a hd toggle switch under dash(also good theft deterrent).
From there straight to distributor.
Nothing else except remove resistor wire.

Put key in.
Filp toggle while turning key to start.
Once starts turn turn off toggle same time letting key go to run position.

Just remember do it every start.
Feels l like normal after few days.

Have you and HIS been hanging out? Either that or a long time overdue divorce maybe? Can't put my finger on it...

The relay is a good way to go. I was going that direction even bought the relay. But I decided to move up to an SI internal regulator alternator at the same time. So I bought an M&H adapter engine harness to accomplish both, works great but not cheap.

You should use a 30 amp relay set up because even a HD 10 amp will fatigue over time with the 25 amp only milliseconds long start up surge that the HEI kicks off with.

Since it's a new to you engine, pull the cap and make sure the rotor is turning with the engine cranking first. Make sure the pickup is connected properly, while the cap is off inspect the wires to the pickup. For test purposes, you could run a wire right to the battery if you think you are having an issue with switched power.

Black/yellow wire at Wiper motor is switched 12V. That will get you started.

After that you ought dig the pink resistance dizzy wire out of the engine-side fuse block, and replace with copper for the win.

Previous owner on my 67 did it for me, but poorly, when they converted to HEI. Original resistor wire was clipped, and replaced with a regular wire using crimp on splices and female spade terminals. I went one step further and did a replacement wire and connector in the terminal block harness on the firewall. It got rid of butt splices on the remaining resistor wire stub.

If I ever get tired of playing with gizmos and decide to go back to a points style distributor, the reversion will be simple. I run EFI, MSD box, and timing control with a small body 2 wire distributor. I was very pleased to get rid of that fat chunky HEI.

What post #3 said. The easiest way to do it. I use 10 amp fuses, have done many conversions, never had a fuse fail. The HEI module has internal current limiting to 5.5 amps.

I have trouble believing there isn't a switched Run/Start power source in the fuse block. Look again.

HEI has low "average" current draw, but fairly-high "instantaneous" draw. 12- or even 10-gauge wire recommended.

I agree. BUT I have tested everything.

Frankly I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by this and probably just need to step away for a bit. It isn’t rocket science but it’s easy to get lost.

I put my old point system back in just to get this thing started. I can fight the HEI later!

HEI's work best with as much voltage as you can throw at them. Which is why, in my opinion they should be run off a relay. If you run them by using a modified factory coil wire, the dash harness eats up some of that voltage before the HEI sees it.

When you use a relay, you get battery voltage to the HEI and you take the ignition load off the dash harness as well. It's actually quite simple to add, but certainly understand it being a little intimidating at first.

I took a deep breath. Put the old points back on from scratch. I found I was off by a full cylinder. I fixed it and BOOM. Fired right up. Set the timing at 14. Runs strong. I will play with the HEI once I get this motor figured out.

Thanks

If your powering that points system with a full 12 volts all the time then keep a close eye on the points because they will pit up faster which then throws the dwell off .

Hooking up the HEI direct to the bat [+] terminal was a smart move. Removes any doubt about supply issues.
Any backfire/misfire would THEN likely be caused by the engine out of time [means the dist rotor is pointing at the wrong cylinder segment in the cap ].
It could be other things, but this is the most likely problem when installing a new dist, & needs to be verified before looking elsewhere.