The tach wire goes from the tach connection on the HEI cap to the tach as far as I know. It may have been wired differently stock, but the HEI is not stock as you know. I've never traced the wire from the - side of the stock coil. It may well go through the fire wall connector, I don't know. It doesn't really matter though.
According to that article looks like I can test the pick up coil by hooking an Ohms meter to it. I will try that tonight and see what resistance I get. More to come. BH
Schurkey's HEI write-up is here: http://www.chevelles.com/techref/techref5.html It helped me alot in the past.
This is GREAT stuff - thank guys. I'll keep you posted. I just tested the pick up cloil and it shows just under 1000 ohms resistance but glancing at the article it looks like there are other tests I should do. Wiring harness inside the distributor is showing less than 1 ohm resistance so I'm assuming it's good. I'm running out of options - hopefully the article will help. Anyone going to Cecil tomorrow? BH
Okay - totally broke the gear trying to get the damn roller pin out. No it doesn't just tap out, (at least mine didn't) I used an 1/8 punch to no avil and broke the damn thing. So....I got a whole new distributor. Screw it. New module, new coil, new cap, new rotor etc etc. Put it in EXACTLY the way my old one was marked. NOTHING. Okay - timing must be off. Pulled the #1 spark plug and had my 9yo daughter bump the motor til I felt the compression come out the hole. Then I backed the motor up to TDC. Is this correct or should I have gone around 2 full turns? Anyway... Put the cap, rotor, plugs, wires back together. NOTHING. Did the same thing again tonight. NOTHING. Here is what I know. 12 volts are going to the power wire on the HEI. Spark is going to EACH plug wire. When the motor cranks it triggers the timing light on all 8 wires. Gauge is showing 1/8 of fuel. I sprayed starting fluid down the primaries and it still wouldn't fire. I'm assuming there's fuel, but now I question that. Base of the carb is wet. Where do I look in the carb to see if fuel is squirting in there? What am I missing? The car used to run - brand new motor with 0 miles on it. Just break in time and some other idling time on top of it. Did I screw this thing up or what? Anyone want a new cap, rotor and module for a HEI? POS Frustrated. BH
Once you feel compression in the plug hole, you continue to turn the engine in the direction of crank rotation (CW from the front). You don't back it up.
Okay -then that's what I did wrong. Also I can see the valves once the oil cap is off. so when the intake valve (2nd one in from the front) opens, then that's at TDC, correct?
The intake valve always closes as the piston is on it's way up the cylinder on the compression stroke. Just stop as soon as you feel compression. Then take a breaker bar and continue turning the engine CW until the mark comes around.
Culprit: Fouled plugs. Once I changed them, she fired right up. I should have changed them at the beginning and saved myself (and everybody reading this thread) some aggravation!! Car runs great!! BH
Purchased the Crane advance spring curve kit and with the 2 yellow spings it looks like my total (mechanical + initial) is 34*. With the Vacuum advance hooked up it advances it another 10* for 44* total. Installed the 2 silver springs Seems to run fine with no pinging. 12 initial, 22 mechanical and 10 vacuum. Maybe I need to start a new thread but some other questions come up: Choke to me seems to be operating backwards. RPM's are low at idle. But after I drive the car 30 miles or so on the highway the idle is waaay up, well over 1100 rps and doesn't want to come down. Also, first fuel milage test: 9.6 mpg, mostly highway. 3.42 gears and TA 284-88H-350 cam. I didn;t think it should be that low but I am turning about 3,500 rpms at 65 mph. Maybe my speedo is off - I will check against my GPS. Anyway, that's the latest. BH
