Working on 455 conversion in an '85 T-type. I think I have most of the problems figured out, except for the distributor. How do I hook it up? I'd rather go with HEI, but if points is a lot easier I can do that. I've searched on here because I remember reading posts about this, but I can't find anything useful. Thanks...
I'd think HEI would be easier myself. I did the same conversion, but my '83 was originally carbureted so it was as simple as hooking up the ingnition wire to the HEI cap.
Go HEI. Much easier to convert (no ballast wire) and way better performance. You can rebuild them yourself for about $50, including new bushings and it'll run great to 5000 RPM. I fyou want to go higher than that and get a great sprak i suggest an oil-filled MSD-blaster 2 external coil and coil conversion kit. Works great in the Regal 455.
All you need is 12 volts to the HEI battery terminal. What engine was in the car before? Find a wire in the harness that has 12 volts activated by the ignition switch.
'85 T-type would have had an SFI turbo (non-intercooled) 3.8L V6. So it would have had coilpacks instead of a distributor. I'd think you could track down ignition power to one of the coilpacks. An alternative is to steal the engine harness from a N/A 3.8L or 5.0L that was carbed and distributor'd and use it instead. Might be easier.
So just a 12v wire? What about the three wires that come from the distributor that have a little plastic plug on them? I thought I might have to cut off the plastic piece and hook those wires up somewhere... if not, that's great... a lot easier than I thought it would be. Thanks for the help...
The three wires that come out of the distributor BASE simply plug into the distributor CAP (where the coil is). The HEI grounds through the engine block and only requires one external +12V wire. A second external wire is used on cars with a tachometer.
awesome, thanks a lot. it's going to be a lot easier than i thought. i know i must seem pretty dumb, the only engines i've ever worked on are lt1's though. no carb, optispark instead of a distributor, etc... i've just never had any experience with carbed engines. thanks again! i only have a few things left before it's done...
