I know this topic has come up before,but i need to know when going from points to HEI, do i NEED to change the postitive wire ? I checked it with the engine not running and switch was on and it read 12 volts,but it was an original points car.Is this possible,or am i checking the wrong things? Also if it is only 9 volts with HEI, will this hurt anything?
If you're referring to the resistance wire, than YES, you need to change it!! If you don't, you won't get full voltage to the coil, and the engine won't run up to its potential. Use at least 12 guage red wire, maybe 10. When you cut the res. wire, get as close to the fuse block as possible.
Mike, Check the voltage with a voltmeter, red lead to the + side of the coil, black lead to ground, with the ign switch in the run position engine off. If the car is set up with the original resistance wire(points system), you will see 5.5-6 volts. When you crank the motor (with coil wire pulled) the reading should jump up to about 9 volts. The HEI needs full time 12 volts. It is possible someone has switched it over already. If you run points with full time 12 volts, the car will run, but point life will be very short.
I don't know if it has already been changed,it don't look like it has ,but i guess it won't hurt to do it again ,thanks
coil wire Mike, If the wire is brown,braided-coated then it might be an orginal wire. You will want to remove all of this wire and run one wire. Any connection made has the risk of having resistance that you do not want. To advoid any voltage drop use 10-gage wire.
Hey there Mike,how's the hood? The wire is a brown color and i checked the voltage and it said 12 volts which is kinda hard to understand because the car was points when i got it and i didn't change the wire??!!
wire Mike, I fit the hood and got it adjusted then took it off for modifacations. Now it is setting in the courner waiting it's turn to be put back on. The wire will show full voltage while it does not have a ground. If you would connect the wire to let say a light bulb then check voltage on the postiive side then it might read 5.5 to 6 volts if it were a resistance wire. My orginal plan was to drive my car to the 2003 Buick Nationals, but due to my ex and the weather it might take another year or two.
I still plan on changing the wire,but i haven't decided where i'm going to get the power from,Bristol is right around the corner,maybe you can go to that,i know i'm gonna try,at least to watch
I just converted mine over as well...... mine was also a brownish colored wire.....and had 12.4 volts. I was going to replace mine but figured I would see how it ran first. No problems with mine here!!
I just used my existing wire to switch a relay with a wire coming from the Batt. to power the dist. It is a good temp. fix till I can really get into rewiring the beast. That way I will at least have full voltage, but it's not pretty Then again.... neither is anything else on the car ou: Good luck getting it figured out
The car seems to run fine with the stock wire, but it seems to quit making power in the upper rpm's. I'll change it and post the difference.
