Hello all, Has anyone here ever upgraded their older points distributor ignition system to the HEI ignition system? If so, what steps are necessary? I have seen this process documented for Olds V8s, but have not yet found it documented for a Buick motor. Thanks much.
Piece of cake - pull out the old dist & drop in the HEI. The only work you really need to do is to ensure the HEI gets a full 12V. This means you will have to dig into the wiring harness and fish out the existing feed wire and replace it with a standard copper wire...the old one has resistance built into it for the old ignition, and the HEI will be very unhappy with less than 12V. Word of caution...make sure the number of teeth is the same between distributor gears...the big block and small block distributor housings are the same except for the gear. Devon
I didn't want to alter my original wire harness so I ran a new #12 AWG wire from the (IGN) terminal in the fuse box, through the firewall and to the HEI distributor. Lots of guys have done this.
Be sure you put a fuse in line from the IGN terminal to the HEI. I also recommend that you use some convoluted tubing around the wire in the engine compartment to prevent chaffing.
I would have expected that the IGN terminal in the fuse block is already fused--am I wrong? This is how I wired my HEI--direct to the open IGN terminal on the fuse side of the fuse block. It functions just as well, but is not as "clean" or "professional" as using a replacement wire having the proper GM-style connector on the fuse block end, and installing it in the engine compartment side of the fuse block; where the resistance wire was plugged in before. When using the original cavity in the fuse block connector; there is no need for a separate fuse--even GM didn't do that.
Were you thinking of more of converting the small body points distrubutor to a HEI electronic pick-up style? There's a service that does that. I also adapted mine and you can see some details about it in this post: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=107245 See down to the end for the final version where I added some adjustablility. Also not that this doesn't incorporate any mechanical or vacumm advance because it's ment to just be a pick-up and I will be using a EFI unit to control the actual spark advance.
