[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by Sun Tuned

Definitely put a voltmeter on that 12v feed wire and see what’s going on there, at key on, start, and while it’s idling.

Easy enough to pull coil cover and then you can get right at it without issue.

The original feed wire from GM was a strange deal. It was about between a 12 and a 14 gauge wire conductor with an over size large diameter of insulation. With using up to date modern type wire a 12 gauge wire is quite sufficient.

I’ve seen all kinds of goofy stuff done with the feed wire going to these HEI distributors on cars.

Too small gauge wire for sure won’t have the current carrying capacity it needs. Most HEis will only draw about 1.2-1.7 amps(Stock) the coils used in the DUI will only draw about 1-1.2 amps more than stock, so a total of 2-3 amps total at most.

My all time favorite deal to see on cars is where they pulled a points distributor and found a 12v keyed source to run the HEI that’s hot in the start AND run position and then run the distributor off that. At that point that’s a good deal…but then they pull the old carb and upgrade to one with an electric choke and then find theres not much places to find a choke power wire …so they T into the one powering the distributor.

I don’t like that.

Second favorite boo boo is where they try to power the choke off the positive side of a canister type ignition coil…
Yeah it’ll work, but not the most ideal situation at all.

So Bob, when you re-build a 4 pin HEI distributor for a customer, that needs a new module, what do you use???

I remember a couple of years ago you were helping a friend with a crate engine install in a 56Chevy?

Seems like the engine wouldn't run right, you found the 4 pin module to be at fault. you tried modules from different part stores, but none performed properly... I'm not sure you mentioned the solution to this???
THanks
Jeff