all my videos are in 1080p so check that out just an idea on how the GM HEI electronic distributor is wired up thanks for watching and please subscribe
Thanks Chris, I inherited a 1969 c10 with a newer engine and couldn’t get it started. A mechanic had told the previous owner that he wanted to buy it and after looking at it the truck wouldn’t run. after watching your video you said the battery marking should say ignition. I looked and sure enough, nothing was plugged in. I hooked a jump wire to the battery and hit the ignition and it started instantly. I think the mechanic cut the wire but your video saved me a lot of headache. Thanks
just remember you have an existing POSITIVE coil wire that is NOT 12 VOLTS that comes from ignition.. you need to go on the fuse box like in the video and run a NEW wire ... your truck has a place IGN just waiting for the new wire..
Found this video while searching how to hook up spark advance, PCV valves, etc, then discovered I also need to watch everything this video has to offer because I'll need it again soon. Converted over to HEI in my 61 Chevy, but haven't started figuring out key wiring yet.
Huge thanks from across the pond! I've just fitted a new motor in my '74 Nova and decided to completely rewire the engine bay. I just couldn't figure out 'BATT' on the distributor cap and bingo you've not only explained it, but given a great diagram as well! Thanks again Chris, I've just hit the Subscribe button.
Chris....thanks for the videos. I too have installed a HEI ignition in my 69 SS with a 70 LS6 engine. I am fortunate because I have a neighbor who's first assignment when he hired into GM was the HEI ignition system. I was having trouble getting my car started and he stopped by to help. It turns out when you change over to HEI and eliminate the separate coil the resistance wire is the issue. My neighbor suggested that I order a compatible (custom updated) wiring harness that has the resistance wire built into the system: has the resistance wire included in the clip into the "BAT" side of the HEI cap. The "R" post is used on the solenoid and goes into the clip. I now have no starting or charging issues. Hopes this helps others with install.
that’s why I show running a new 12v wire … not using the old resisted coil wire ..so many people have thumbed this video down because they said you show running a new wire when the old coil wire can be used.. you do not use a resisted wire with HEI.. anyone that suggests buying a new wiring harness doesn’t know anything about cars or wiring..
@@chriscraft77022 Hi Chris. I did purchase a new bulk head connector from American Auto Wire at the suggestion of my neighbor who's first project when hired in to GM was the HEI ignition system. The difference was the new bulk head connector has a yellow wire that attaches at the solenoid at the "R" connection and this wire also clips into the HEI at the bat port along with the pink primary solenoid wire. But, I would like to show you what I discovered in my attempt to remedy my no crank, no start issue. I know it will help some of your subscribers who are facing the same issue with these old muscle cars. I have pics to send you if I can get your e-mail. I know you will be surprised. Stay safe. Craig
Thank you for showing the coil to ignition diagram at 6min!! After 2 weekends of frustration and a crazy number of lame videos you came through with the needed info. 5 minutes under the dash and I'm running! Thanks again 👍😎👍
Yessir, I had no desire to learn about points and how to set them. I had already been around H.E.I. so when I seen my wife's 1964 Malibu had a 1970 350ci 4 bolt main engine out of a box truck I went to junk yard and bought a HEI distributor from an early eighties Camaro and dropped it in. Super easy upgrade. Opened gap on the plugs to match Camaro which was around double. Set timing and man what an improvement. Everything got better, mpg, sound, idle, pulled harder. Excellent! Then I took the big holley off and torker2 intake manifold. Replaced with edelbrock performer rpm matching intake and 650cfm Carb. Runs great now, almost like it's fuel injected. Now I just have to get the power glide rebuilt, it's getting a little clunky on downshift.
Chris Craft, that's a good idea. I didn't really think about how rare it is. noahsdad1972 is the channel it'll be on. I'll make some videos of it and my father in laws 31 A Model he's dumped alot of money in and been in few car shows.
That part you are pointing out to identify, is very important, called the "vacuum advance". It's purpose is to advance the ignition timing when you squeeze open the throttle plate. Without it, the motor will bog. But, nice vid. I'd love to build one of those pigs again. Long time!
I’m having this issue with a 350 Olds motor. It’s an early 70s motor installed in a g body cutlass and they used a distributor without the vacuum advance and my car drives like shit. 😁
Chris! Thanks brouch for sharing your knowledge!!! Recently I bought a 1970 F600 Dump truck and I was having ignition problems... I worked on cars long time ago and forgot some principles!!! Easy to understand your wire diagram!! I'll give it a try today!!
Thanks for the video I have a 77 k10 with no cab wiring because the rock head that owned it before me ripped it all out and didn’t know how to wire it back together so I’m in the process of just trying to have the lights and the ignition work so I can at least drive it until I get a painless wiring harness
Love how you laid it all out ,pretty simple and understandable. Only question I have is why an AFB or Carter carb? A "good" Q-Jet that's set up right will give you good gas mileage if you stay out'a the 4-barrel but also will give that 454 one hell of a top performance head jerker with that 4-barrel ,better than a pretty boy Holley.
I have my oldsmobile setup where I can switch over to regular ignition key on start or battery to toggle switch off/on direct to the hei distributor. Since I had a broken wire from ignition switch on steering column to distributor that made the car's engine intermittenly shut off at times while driving killing power to the distributor .Makes a kool backup setup.
I know this video is now 7 yrs old but still very helpful. PLEASE NOTE; All HEI, Accell and MDS are now all made in China and are junk! Always look for old ones .
@@henrydillard6217 I seared and could not find where they made. Their site says TN USA and that they test everyone before it is shipped. I read many comments most were positive some had 2 or 3 bad units in a row.
hey man thank you so much for this detailed explanation. i was confused on how to wire these hei units and had no idea that ignition control module was inside of the distributor itself, and you can directly connect it to the battery to test it. I am going to connect my junk yard engine this way to test it
If you are on tdc #1 your rotor should be pointing at number one on the cap. #1 can be any post on cap, it is wherever you point it when you drop as long as it is on tdc #1.
Thank God for you bruh. I really need some extra assistance I have the same fuse box but a 73 Impala. I have power on the fuse box but the lights on the dash aren’t coming on anymore.
Hey Chris. I have been watching all your wiring videos. They are a real big help seeing I have no idea what I am doing. You have taught me a lot. I am just about finished re-wiring my Fargo and hope to have it running soon. Thanks again.👍👍
YESALL🤘🏼 my 65 GALAXIE is about to go HEI. Sounds like the right move. Currently has a ford electric box / no points set up but think this will be a great upgrade. Keep ya posted ;) thanks for the help in advance
That look really easy I got mine. Had someone work on it supposed to be a mechanic a real mechanic I like the way your daddy I'm going to give it a try myself thanks
Thank you for this video and drawings. It really helped me wrap my head around it. My batt wire going from the distributor to the fuse block attached to the firewall is no good. What would you recommend me doing its a 78 gmc caballero
Thx for this vid, I've always contemplated switching my spare vehicle 92 5.0 tbi firebird to carb, even after changing out literally every sensor it never ran quite right and takes a bit of cranking for it to actually start...yet in every carb vid I've ever seen vehicles instantly start up
I have a 1988 5.0 TBI in my work van.. it spins over 3 or 4 times before it starts ( that is normal )... i pulled all the emissions stuff off of it and replaced everything except the knock sensor.. it runs perfect.. I would try that before putting a carb on it..
thx at least it's normal then, with a new starter put on that's about what mine takes to start too....could use a starter heat shield wrap for good measure... I actually remember hearing pulling the smog stuff off can really breathe new life into these older engines....mine still has all that crap on, I need to get me some 1 1/4th inch pipe end cover caps to plug the holes in the manifold after removing the "AIR SYSTEM" :)
dont rip everything off.. plug one thing off at a time and make sure the engine runs fine with it plugged or removed.. i had to leave some egr stuff on it... make sure your battery is 100% good.. i wasted 5 hours messing with it one day and the problem was a low battery.. (it started up and ran but would run weird) the battery was at like 12 volts.. once it charged up to 13 i closed the hood and its been running perfect for 6 years now
I usually don't give out likes I don't know why I guess because I don't want somebody's stuff constantly in my news feeds cuz there's a lot of people who will go and take and make dumb videos back to back back to back or they're about the same stuff for repetitively after they just got through talking about it the day before and I just really can't stand that but anyway this is the best video that I have found out there on how to wire a HEI distributor I already knew how to do it but it's just been so long since I have wired one by myself that I was just looking for pointers just to ensure that I still know what the hell I'm doing lol anyway I thank you so much And you just got yourself a subscriber too by the way
I had that ignition control module trouble TWICE on my '89 Caprice. But it has the STANDARD distributor, not the HEI. Those GM ignition modules don't last too long. I always buy a new one, and put it the glove box in case of it goes bad. You don't want to be stranded out there.
But in the video he pointed to number one on the cap opposite of where the rotor button is pointing. It very confusing. I tried that and vehicle didn't crank but when I point the rotor tips to number one cylinder the vehicle crank but back fire through the exhaust and carburetor sometime. Some people say I have the distributor 180 degree out. Can someone help me understand?
Well what you really do is put your finger down into number one cylinder You first remove the HEI distributor then bump start it until your finger blows off then you take a welding rod or either a coat hanger or some type of wire if you use a welding rod make sure you take all the flux off of it My favorite is the welding rod by the way anyway you get someone on the harmonic balancer to turn it back and forth until you reach TDC top dead center when you go one way and you go the opposite way for it not to move just not the least little bit then you take your distributor and you stab it in pointing it towards number one And you start timing it from there AKA putting the plug wires on at that point in the firing order sequence if you do it the way he is doing it then you wait until you find number one TDC then you look at your cap You put it on you do exactly the way I said about the welding rod and find number one on the cap and where the rotary button is pointing to and you start number one from there but like I said the best way to do it is remove distributor and find number one before you install the distributor
Now when they're referring to 180° out you have a compression stroke and you have a fire and stroke You got to make sure you're doing it on the compression stroke that's what you start timing it from
Hey! So, I have a '74 K20. I got it running, but it didn't have much power when I stepped on the gas. I thought I needed to adjust the timing and tweak the carburetor. I started with the HEI distributor, set it to top dead center, dropped the distributor in, and put the spark plug wires in the right order. But it's still not running right, even though I know there's spark and it's getting gas. It cranks but won't fire, and now the carb is spitting gas out the top.
Hey Chris, thanks for the video and a long question. I am about to hook up a HEI in my 1968 Camaro. I am confused as to which wire is actually the one that transmits the signal to the Tachometer. I have installed an OER repop Tic Toc Tach with the fitting printed circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster. I also got a tach filter (was recommended for use of the OER Tach with a HEI. All I have on my current engine wiring harness is apparently only for use with a conventional breaker point ignition with a coil. So, it's the braided resistance wire soldered together with a yellow one for the + side of the coil. There's also a black wire, which I presume is ground for the wiper motor. Then I have a purple one (for the starter solenoid) and another yellow wire, where I don't know what thats is for. What would be the "TACH" wire on the HEI? The "BAT" wire I believe would be a 12 gauge wire instead of the resistance wire. Hope you can give me some guidance, thanks in advance.
I have an HEI just like the one with the ICM. 1984 Chev C10. I bought a new replacement. But does not have that 3 wire connection. How would I bypass it to work? One wire comes from the firewall and other connects to cap underneath? Thank you..
Hi ,i might not even get any answer back but,if i put a 12volt test light from the bat terminal on the distributor cap and the other lead to ground should i get a light when i turn the ignition switch on??
thank you i been looking for a vid like this and this one is what i needed for my stock hei and answered a question i been wanting a answer to and no other vid had answered it till now
Question , changed the distributor cap , coil & rotary on a 78 Chevy electronic ignition , now the alternator light is on , is it possible may have battery wire & tach wire reversed ?
This video was excellent. Excellent! The guy was thorough polite extremely informative did you catch the little tips that you needed to understand. Piece of cake. Put it better than anybody else could have. This dude gives a s*** and that's a good thing. Helped me immensely where all the other videos about this, just don't do it!
I had great success with those distributors often tho the mechical advance those springs and weights will actually get stuck and it will not well run right no power I've had good success with lighter springs called a curve kit it does make a difference to get advance of timing quicker .. but those distributors will run well,over 6000 rpms without a hickup,
Chris listen buddy long time viewer/scriber yada yada but I need Your expertise because I understand your electrical tutor so here goes my 1966 Chevelle I have done EVERYTHING that you have shown to delete and bypass all is Good 👍 thanks but what do I do with the old point s resistance wire ? I went HEI off of the ign fuse block is stubbing it off cool? I don’t want to butcher the car no more than I did when I was a-teen and wireing harness replacement is just stupid money 💰 thanks
Hey man, I have a 71 El Camino with a 350 small block. I don't know anything about engines. I am slowly learning off this car. I am upgrading it to a Edelbrock 4 barrel and putting a brand new HEI distributor in it. I am struggling on figuring out how to run the wires from the ignition part of the fuse box to the BAT on the distributor. I also found that there is another wire already plugged into the ignition and when I fallow the wire, it runs into another plug area with another wire that leads to another set of wires. ( sorry I don't know the correct terminology for most of this). If you could get back to me that would be super helpful since I am struggling to find any forums about my issues. Thanks and love the video.
on your car you will have a resisted down wire wrapped with a cloth.. that is the original ignition wire that went to the positive side of the COIL. it goes to the bulkhead connector on the firewall under the brake booster . most of the times that wire is gone or cut out... look for that wire first..
I am switching my distributor from one with a separate coil to the HEI. I have two wires here that were on the top of the original coil, but I had some guy tell me that they were not giving off enough voltage or one of the wires was...I can't remember, but he ended up attaching a separate wire from the back of the alternator directly to coil ontop of the new distributor in the BAT slot. The only down fall with that, is that car might not shut off. I have not tried turning the key yet because I am afraid I will not be able to turn the key. I am kind of "upgrading" my car since one of the head gaskets went out and I just recently pulled the motor to replace the oil pan since it was bent from me trying to replace the timing chain. It's all back together now up to this point. I have the distributor, Edelbrock 4 barrel, and I was hoping to add a tac to it since it doesn't have one. After I just looked I did not find any wires covered in cloth. There are about 8 wires that run from the driver side tucked in along the fire wall to the passenger side plugged into a little black box.
the car WILL NOT shut off if you wire it like that.. take that wire off the alternator.. go on your fuse box (inside under the dash) and look for a spade connector by itself with IGN in white letters under it... run a temporary wire from that to BAT on the HEI... and get it started first... get a multimeter and check voltage from those 2 wires you talked about... one will have 12v when you crank and 1 will have lower voltage (6-9 volts) when IGN is on with the key.... the lower voltage wire is the original positive side COIL wire..
Question for you. My 74 CJ5 has a key switch that the "on" position goes off when the key is turned to "Ignition" . The fuse panel is powered up via a solenoid in the "on" position, but the when turned to "Ign" the fuse panel is turned off since the "On" terminal loses connection during ignition. So in this scenario would it be correct to provide power to the HEI thru a relay in the "Ignition" position but then also provide power to the HEI thru the fuse panel when the key is returned to the "On" position.
your jeep already has an ignition wire… there is no “On” Off, accessories, ign , and start … your coil is wired off ign .. you can use the old coil wire just make sure it shows the same voltage as the battery
Possibly a lost cause on a video this old, but, I have a 69 Camaro with a 350 running a HEI dis. It was always having issues running since the 20 years it sat due to that issue finally got it to run, directly connecting the HEI BATT to the battery only when firing it, but finally wanted to put it on a switch to not have it constant * we’d disconnect it once we warmed it up for a few minutes * now with the switch set up, none of the fuze terminals seem to work and let it fire up, and will short out. Returned it to wiring it off the battery and still shorts out ?! Any tips..? Seems as if the fuze box itself is just junk, electrical issues are not my space at all and would love any help If you’ve experienced anything or tips on what to test, seems like it’s the HEI but it was running 100% fine before, now going back to that it doesn’t run again ??
on your fuse box run a 12g from IGN alone terminal ( the 3 in the center.. the one on the bottom) to BAT on the coil . That is all you need to power the HEI
My k5 loss power going down the road, and i narrowed it down to what i thought was a bad distributor. I bought a new one and installed it, but it still just cranks and wont start. I have fuel, but my spark is orange, so its weak. Ive got a new negative ground strap, and my other grounds look fine. Any suggestions?
the only time i have ever lost power was from a wire arching on the exhaust.. you say it wont start, though.. I have never had that problem associated with ignition.. ever... i have also never seen an orange spark.. all you can do first is run a jumper 12v straight from battery to BAT on the distributor and see if starts that way
Great video, Chris. Question: As long as I connect the + to the IGN space on the fuse box, I can then not worry about the existing wires to the dizzy? (I have a 93 S10 with a 4.3L). I can just ignore them?
What is a tach? I took my old distributor out and dropped in an HEI but I didn’t mark where the plug was pointing to. Is that all you do is put the paper in the hole?
#1 wire on cap points to #1 cylinder.. the paper ball is just to make sure you are on top dead center of the compression stroke.. in other words if the ball popped out when the rotor was pointing away from #1… the distributor would be “180 degrees off” it is actually very difficult to understand what is going on at first
Might be a stupid question,. Can I run both the Alternator Dummy Light and the Distributor BAT wire from the ignition post at the key?? 1963 c10 with an unmarked fuse block. No idea which fuse is tied to ignition so I’d like to wire strait to Key IGN but the Alt dummy light is already there...
Chris Craft I watched your 3 wire video! Really appreciate the time you take to put these together. I inherited a truck with some crazy wiring. I’ve got the Alt diode wire hooked up to ignition post and it works just didn’t know if the distributor power wire would mess things up if i put it on the same post. Thanks again for your videos! I’m watching the Tach one next!!
i have watched a bunch of your videos. And i would like to thank you for taking the time to make them for all of us DIY out here. Thank you. Have a question on installing a HEI on a Chevy small block 265. I have the old style key switch but i have no tach. so of course I am wiring like you showed for the batt.from the key switch. So do i just leave tach open since i don't have one? Or does something else need to go there? Again thank you your videos have helped me a lot .
When findiing number one cylinder tdc on a sbc often times im by my self so ive taken me a 6 foot puece of hose that fits the spark plug hole well ans i put the other end in my mouth...this allows me to turn the engine by hand without looking at the cylinder.....also i only turn the engine til i get a good amount of pressure and stop. You know yur on no 1 compression stroke because your cheeks inflated. But you still gotta find the apex of its stroke and quickest way is keep turning engine until the slot on the harmonic balancer lines up with the 10k BTDC mark on yur block then yur done
Thanks for the tip on tight clearance with a 67 c10. I have a 71c10 with the motor set in the rear position. It's like that because it had a straight 6 originally which is a longer.
My 81 Malibu stopped running the other day as I was leaving the lot, when it happened last week my grandfather said it was the distributor, and he fixed it, now it happened again, how would I go about diagnosing the issue In the distributor
hi, what is the way when the removal position is lost? the zero mark on the flywheel is finger on the cylinder 1 cable? I have made the fine marking before, but which gear position clicks is lost, is a Nissan H25 engine Forklift,
Hey man I'm rebuilding a 1976 gmc sierra classic 25, and it will only start if I run the 12v distributor wire directly to the battery. I have no power to the cab except lights and brake lights. Any ideas on what it could be? I also have to start it directly from the battery.
Good video. I've done this on my 72 but, I accidentally ordered a large cap internal distributor base, cap and rotor for my 90 firebird, not realizing I needed a small cap external coil. So now I'm thinking I could just run the pink wire off of the 2 wire pink/white wire harness that goes to the coil but, there's supposed to be another 2 wire harness, that has pink/black + a 4 wire connector that runs too the module, which I'm confident I don't need. It's a tbi obd1 with a carb and all the emissions crap is gone but, I still have the ecm installed to power the electric fuel pump, electric fan, etc. So my concern is, if I just ignore the 4 wire module connector, the pink/black connector and only plug in the pink (from key) wire from the pink/white connector, do you know if the ECM is gonna go haywire and burn up or shut down?
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I'm not a mechanic but after watching your video I am confident enough to install my own HEI distributor -- thank you Chris!
Thanks Chris,
I inherited a 1969 c10 with a newer engine and couldn’t get it started. A mechanic had told the previous owner that he wanted to buy it and after looking at it the truck wouldn’t run. after watching your video you said the battery marking should say ignition. I looked and sure enough, nothing was plugged in. I hooked a jump wire to the battery and hit the ignition and it started instantly. I think the mechanic cut the wire but your video saved me a lot of headache. Thanks
just remember you have an existing POSITIVE coil wire that is NOT 12 VOLTS that comes from ignition.. you need to go on the fuse box like in the video and run a NEW wire ... your truck has a place IGN just waiting for the new wire..
Found this video while searching how to hook up spark advance, PCV valves, etc, then discovered I also need to watch everything this video has to offer because I'll need it again soon. Converted over to HEI in my 61 Chevy, but haven't started figuring out key wiring yet.
just dont use the exsiting coil wire.. run a 12v wire.. that old coil wire is resisted down..
Huge thanks from across the pond! I've just fitted a new motor in my '74 Nova and decided to completely rewire the engine bay. I just couldn't figure out 'BATT' on the distributor cap and bingo you've not only explained it, but given a great diagram as well! Thanks again Chris, I've just hit the Subscribe button.
Chris....thanks for the videos. I too have installed a HEI ignition in my 69 SS with a 70 LS6 engine. I am fortunate because I have a neighbor who's first assignment when he hired into GM was the HEI ignition system. I was having trouble getting my car started and he stopped by to help. It turns out when you change over to HEI and eliminate the separate coil the resistance wire is the issue. My neighbor suggested that I order a compatible (custom updated) wiring harness that has the resistance wire built into the system: has the resistance wire included in the clip into the "BAT" side of the HEI cap. The "R" post is used on the solenoid and goes into the clip.
I now have no starting or charging issues. Hopes this helps others with install.
that’s why I show running a new 12v wire … not using the old resisted coil wire ..so many people have thumbed this video down because they said you show running a new wire when the old coil wire can be used.. you do not use a resisted wire with HEI.. anyone that suggests buying a new wiring harness doesn’t know anything about cars or wiring..
@@chriscraft77022 Hi Chris. I did purchase a new bulk head connector from American Auto Wire at the suggestion of my neighbor who's first project when hired in to GM was the HEI ignition system. The difference was the new bulk head connector has a yellow wire that attaches at the solenoid at the "R" connection and this wire also clips into the HEI at the bat port along with the pink primary solenoid wire. But, I would like to show you what I discovered in my attempt to remedy my no crank, no start issue. I know it will help some of your subscribers who are facing the same issue with these old muscle cars. I have pics to send you if I can get your e-mail. I know you will be surprised. Stay safe. Craig
Thank you for showing the coil to ignition diagram at 6min!! After 2 weekends of frustration and a crazy number of lame videos you came through with the needed info. 5 minutes under the dash and I'm running! Thanks again 👍😎👍
Perfect "how-to" video! Straight & to the point! Informative & very detailed! Bravo Sir
Perfect "how-to do it" video! Straight & to the point! Informative & very detailed! Thank you so much!
Yessir, I had no desire to learn about points and how to set them. I had already been around H.E.I. so when I seen my wife's 1964 Malibu had a 1970 350ci 4 bolt main engine out of a box truck I went to junk yard and bought a HEI distributor from an early eighties Camaro and dropped it in. Super easy upgrade. Opened gap on the plugs to match Camaro which was around double. Set timing and man what an improvement. Everything got better, mpg, sound, idle, pulled harder. Excellent! Then I took the big holley off and torker2 intake manifold. Replaced with edelbrock performer rpm matching intake and 650cfm Carb. Runs great now, almost like it's fuel injected. Now I just have to get the power glide rebuilt, it's getting a little clunky on downshift.
make some videos....i have honestly never seen a 64 chevelle in real life
Chris Craft, that's a good idea. I didn't really think about how rare it is. noahsdad1972 is the channel it'll be on. I'll make some videos of it and my father in laws 31 A Model he's dumped alot of money in and been in few car shows.
You deserve a metal man. This is point and click
That part you are pointing out to identify, is very important, called the "vacuum advance". It's purpose is to advance the ignition timing when you squeeze open the throttle plate. Without it, the motor will bog. But, nice vid. I'd love to build one of those pigs again. Long time!
I’m having this issue with a 350 Olds motor. It’s an early 70s motor installed in a g body cutlass and they used a distributor without the vacuum advance and my car drives like shit. 😁
it's okay loved the video u explained hei disributor better than any video I've watched!
😉
Doing an hei swap in my 70' Deville. Should eliminate my points pain. Your video helped a lot!
I used your paper ball trick. Way less sketchy feeling than the finger over the hole trick. Thanks man.
Best video explaining HEI wiring!!! Thank you so much.
nice job young man, very clear and to the point !!!!!
Thank you for adding the fuse box to your diagram..this is only diagram on the interwebs with the fuse box drawn in... thanks again clear as mud now.
Chris! Thanks brouch for sharing your knowledge!!! Recently I bought a 1970 F600 Dump truck and I was having ignition problems... I worked on cars long time ago and forgot some principles!!! Easy to understand your wire diagram!! I'll give it a try today!!
Thank you for this video. This is the most info I've gotten for an HEI.
Great video I enjoyed the easy way you're explaining things it takes the stress out of it lol ✌️🇱🇷
This was a very good explanation with drawing & wire Ga., info which were helpful, thx.
The 12 Ga., wire power and its fuse box source is vital info.
Thanks for the video I have a 77 k10 with no cab wiring because the rock head that owned it before me ripped it all out and didn’t know how to wire it back together so I’m in the process of just trying to have the lights and the ignition work so I can at least drive it until I get a painless wiring harness
Good Video and Explanation, im putting HEI on my 66 chevy 327 , been rebuilt and cant wait to start it up
what wire are you going to use to power the HEI? ( run a new one or old positive coil wire?)
Your video is very informative.... i have a 62 impala and im trying to diaognose an no spark issue
What u need is a joint.... Then spark it up dude.
Love how you laid it all out ,pretty simple and understandable. Only question I have is why an AFB or Carter carb? A "good" Q-Jet that's set up right will give you good gas mileage if you stay out'a the 4-barrel but also will give that 454 one hell of a top performance head jerker with that 4-barrel ,better than a pretty boy Holley.
I have my oldsmobile setup where I can switch over to regular ignition key on start or battery to toggle switch off/on direct to the hei distributor. Since I had a broken wire from ignition switch on steering column to distributor that made the car's engine intermittenly shut off at times while driving killing power to the distributor .Makes a kool backup setup.
Thanks . You saved my brain cells I was stressing over the wiring
I pulled mine out and forgot to mark where it was at so this was super helpful thanks
I know this video is now 7 yrs old but still very helpful. PLEASE NOTE; All HEI, Accell and MDS are now all made in China and are junk! Always look for old ones .
What about d.u.i. Davis unified ignition? Are they any better?
@@henrydillard6217 I seared and could not find where they made. Their site says TN USA and that they test everyone before it is shipped. I read many comments most were positive some had 2 or 3 bad units in a row.
@@henrydillard6217 they claim to be. I dud ck them out. I'll look at them the next time I need one. Tkx
Thank you. Just changed over th HEI on my 70 Monte Carlo and this helped.
make sure you run 12v and don’t use the original coil wire it is resisted down
hey man thank you so much for this detailed explanation. i was confused on how to wire these hei units and had no idea that ignition control module was inside of the distributor itself, and you can directly connect it to the battery to test it. I am going to connect my junk yard engine this way to test it
If you are on tdc #1 your rotor should be pointing at number one on the cap. #1 can be any post on cap, it is wherever you point it when you drop as long as it is on tdc #1.
Thanks for explaining it. I'm one of those idiots who would've been trying to figure out why the engine wouldn't shut off 😂
Thank God for you bruh. I really need some extra assistance I have the same fuse box but a 73 Impala.
I have power on the fuse box but the lights on the dash aren’t coming on anymore.
Hey Chris. I have been watching all your wiring videos. They are a real big help seeing I have no idea what I am doing. You have taught me a lot. I am just about finished re-wiring my Fargo and hope to have it running soon. Thanks again.👍👍
Tkx its great to see the kis principle and not a talk down
YESALL🤘🏼 my 65 GALAXIE is about to go HEI. Sounds like the right move. Currently has a ford electric box / no points set up but think this will be a great upgrade. Keep ya posted ;) thanks for the help in advance
That look really easy I got mine. Had someone work on it supposed to be a mechanic a real mechanic I like the way your daddy I'm going to give it a try myself thanks
Thank you for this video and drawings. It really helped me wrap my head around it. My batt wire going from the distributor to the fuse block attached to the firewall is no good. What would you recommend me doing its a 78 gmc caballero
love the back ground music
Thx for this vid, I've always contemplated switching my spare vehicle 92 5.0 tbi firebird to carb, even after changing out literally every sensor it never ran quite right and takes a bit of cranking for it to actually start...yet in every carb vid I've ever seen vehicles instantly start up
I have a 1988 5.0 TBI in my work van.. it spins over 3 or 4 times before it starts ( that is normal )... i pulled all the emissions stuff off of it and replaced everything except the knock sensor.. it runs perfect.. I would try that before putting a carb on it..
thx at least it's normal then, with a new starter put on that's about what mine takes to start too....could use a starter heat shield wrap for good measure... I actually remember hearing pulling the smog stuff off can really breathe new life into these older engines....mine still has all that crap on, I need to get me some 1 1/4th inch pipe end cover caps to plug the holes in the manifold after removing the "AIR SYSTEM" :)
dont rip everything off.. plug one thing off at a time and make sure the engine runs fine with it plugged or removed.. i had to leave some egr stuff on it... make sure your battery is 100% good.. i wasted 5 hours messing with it one day and the problem was a low battery.. (it started up and ran but would run weird) the battery was at like 12 volts.. once it charged up to 13 i closed the hood and its been running perfect for 6 years now
I usually don't give out likes I don't know why I guess because I don't want somebody's stuff constantly in my news feeds cuz there's a lot of people who will go and take and make dumb videos back to back back to back or they're about the same stuff for repetitively after they just got through talking about it the day before and I just really can't stand that but anyway this is the best video that I have found out there on how to wire a HEI distributor I already knew how to do it but it's just been so long since I have wired one by myself that I was just looking for pointers just to ensure that I still know what the hell I'm doing lol anyway I thank you so much And you just got yourself a subscriber too by the way
the main thing to know is that points ignition cars had a resisted wire to positive coil.. so you have to run a new 12v wire to the HEI coil
The video was very informative and I like it well done. I will never use the GM ignition.
Right on thank you this video was a lot of help
I had that ignition control module trouble TWICE on my '89 Caprice. But it has the STANDARD distributor, not the HEI. Those GM ignition modules don't last too long. I always buy a new one, and put it the glove box in case of it goes bad. You don't want to be stranded out there.
hi why is the rotor tip pointing to the back of motor, i thought it was suppose to point to #1 cylinder thanks
Points to the #1 on the cap not the engine!!!
yup it's pointing to #6
But in the video he pointed to number one on the cap opposite of where the rotor button is pointing. It very confusing. I tried that and vehicle didn't crank but when I point the rotor tips to number one cylinder the vehicle crank but back fire through the exhaust and carburetor sometime. Some people say I have the distributor 180 degree out. Can someone help me understand?
Well what you really do is put your finger down into number one cylinder You first remove the HEI distributor then bump start it until your finger blows off then you take a welding rod or either a coat hanger or some type of wire if you use a welding rod make sure you take all the flux off of it My favorite is the welding rod by the way anyway you get someone on the harmonic balancer to turn it back and forth until you reach TDC top dead center when you go one way and you go the opposite way for it not to move just not the least little bit then you take your distributor and you stab it in pointing it towards number one And you start timing it from there AKA putting the plug wires on at that point in the firing order sequence if you do it the way he is doing it then you wait until you find number one TDC then you look at your cap You put it on you do exactly the way I said about the welding rod and find number one on the cap and where the rotary button is pointing to and you start number one from there but like I said the best way to do it is remove distributor and find number one before you install the distributor
Now when they're referring to 180° out you have a compression stroke and you have a fire and stroke You got to make sure you're doing it on the compression stroke that's what you start timing it from
Thank you so much! this has helped me phenomenally !
nice wrk. I totally learned alot from that video. I have a 76 gmc chevy that I am redoing. thx again my frnd☺
James Joyce . Me to man
John Frusciante background music is great.
Thanks a lot! It's been a long time and this was a good refresher!
Hey! So, I have a '74 K20. I got it running, but it didn't have much power when I stepped on the gas. I thought I needed to adjust the timing and tweak the carburetor. I started with the HEI distributor, set it to top dead center, dropped the distributor in, and put the spark plug wires in the right order. But it's still not running right, even though I know there's spark and it's getting gas. It cranks but won't fire, and now the carb is spitting gas out the top.
i have a video on THAT. FINDING TDC OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT..
Converting my 70 Impala today. Did it once about 20 years ago on a 64 Impala
just remember that positive coil wire will be resisted down...
Hey Chris, thanks for the video and a long question.
I am about to hook up a HEI in my 1968 Camaro. I am confused as to which wire is actually the one that transmits the signal to the Tachometer. I have installed an OER repop Tic Toc Tach with the fitting printed circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster. I also got a tach filter (was recommended for use of the OER Tach with a HEI.
All I have on my current engine wiring harness is apparently only for use with a conventional breaker point ignition with a coil. So, it's the braided resistance wire soldered together with a yellow one for the + side of the coil.
There's also a black wire, which I presume is ground for the wiper motor.
Then I have a purple one (for the starter solenoid) and another yellow wire, where I don't know what thats is for.
What would be the "TACH" wire on the HEI? The "BAT" wire I believe would be a 12 gauge wire instead of the resistance wire.
Hope you can give me some guidance, thanks in advance.
Thanks, great video, and very helpful.
Great video keep them coming your greatly appreciated
That little test panel is awesome (stealing that idea)
Thanks for your help.Have a Nice weekend.
I have an HEI just like the one with the ICM. 1984 Chev C10. I bought a new replacement. But does not have that 3 wire connection. How would I bypass it to work? One wire comes from the firewall and other connects to cap underneath? Thank you..
Hi ,i might not even get any answer back but,if i put a 12volt test light from the bat terminal on the distributor cap and the other lead to ground should i get a light when i turn the ignition switch on??
yes, make sure it’s 12 volts too not just turning the light on
I need that whole unit u got, makes shit easy
Thank you so much for the video, saved my sanity
thank you i been looking for a vid like this and this one is what i needed for my stock hei and answered a question i been wanting a answer to and no other vid had answered it till now
Best video I have seen explaining this. It really helped
You did a good job explaining ty.
thanks for the vid, very long winded but overall very clear - much appreciated. U were right about the 12g wire lol -
Hey I just purchased a hei distributor for my dodge d150 from speedway I hook it up like ur video nd noting
Great video I changed the distributor n still no spark
Question , changed the distributor cap , coil & rotary on a 78 Chevy electronic ignition , now the alternator light is on , is it possible may have battery wire & tach wire reversed ?
Great job explaining. Thanks for the video
This video was excellent. Excellent! The guy was thorough polite extremely informative did you catch the little tips that you needed to understand. Piece of cake. Put it better than anybody else could have. This dude gives a s*** and that's a good thing. Helped me immensely where all the other videos about this, just don't do it!
All I needed was to understand the wiring hook up.. power and coil. Thank you for simplicity and common sense.
I had great success with those distributors often tho the mechical advance those springs and weights will actually get stuck and it will not well run right no power I've had good success with lighter springs called a curve kit it does make a difference to get advance of timing quicker .. but those distributors will run well,over 6000 rpms without a hickup,
Very easy and nice method. You rock dude
thank you for the great video your greatly appreciated greetings from Holland.
Chris listen buddy long time viewer/scriber yada yada but I need Your expertise because I understand your electrical tutor so here goes my 1966 Chevelle I have done EVERYTHING that you have shown to delete and bypass all is Good 👍 thanks but what do I do with the old point s resistance wire ? I went HEI off of the ign fuse block is stubbing it off cool? I don’t want to butcher the car no more than I did when I was a-teen and wireing harness replacement is just stupid money 💰 thanks
yeah, just block it off or remove it
Buddy your the best thanks man your one of the only ones that I believe when it comes to this stuff real deal here folks!@@chriscraft77022
Hey man, I have a 71 El Camino with a 350 small block. I don't know anything about engines. I am slowly learning off this car. I am upgrading it to a Edelbrock 4 barrel and putting a brand new HEI distributor in it. I am struggling on figuring out how to run the wires from the ignition part of the fuse box to the BAT on the distributor. I also found that there is another wire already plugged into the ignition and when I fallow the wire, it runs into another plug area with another wire that leads to another set of wires. ( sorry I don't know the correct terminology for most of this). If you could get back to me that would be super helpful since I am struggling to find any forums about my issues. Thanks and love the video.
on your car you will have a resisted down wire wrapped with a cloth.. that is the original ignition wire that went to the positive side of the COIL. it goes to the bulkhead connector on the firewall under the brake booster . most of the times that wire is gone or cut out... look for that wire first..
I am switching my distributor from one with a separate coil to the HEI. I have two wires here that were on the top of the original coil, but I had some guy tell me that they were not giving off enough voltage or one of the wires was...I can't remember, but he ended up attaching a separate wire from the back of the alternator directly to coil ontop of the new distributor in the BAT slot. The only down fall with that, is that car might not shut off. I have not tried turning the key yet because I am afraid I will not be able to turn the key.
I am kind of "upgrading" my car since one of the head gaskets went out and I just recently pulled the motor to replace the oil pan since it was bent from me trying to replace the timing chain.
It's all back together now up to this point. I have the distributor, Edelbrock 4 barrel, and I was hoping to add a tac to it since it doesn't have one.
After I just looked I did not find any wires covered in cloth. There are about 8 wires that run from the driver side tucked in along the fire wall to the passenger side plugged into a little black box.
the car WILL NOT shut off if you wire it like that.. take that wire off the alternator.. go on your fuse box (inside under the dash) and look for a spade connector by itself with IGN in white letters under it... run a temporary wire from that to BAT on the HEI... and get it started first... get a multimeter and check voltage from those 2 wires you talked about... one will have 12v when you crank and 1 will have lower voltage (6-9 volts) when IGN is on with the key.... the lower voltage wire is the original positive side COIL wire..
Will do, Thank you so much for replying to me so promptly. I will just try and get things running before trying to get everything set.
Question for you. My 74 CJ5 has a key switch that the "on" position goes off when the key is turned to "Ignition" . The fuse panel is powered up via a solenoid in the "on" position, but the when turned to "Ign" the fuse panel is turned off since the "On" terminal loses connection during ignition. So in this scenario would it be correct to provide power to the HEI thru a relay in the "Ignition" position but then also provide power to the HEI thru the fuse panel when the key is returned to the "On" position.
your jeep already has an ignition wire… there is no “On” Off, accessories, ign , and start … your coil is wired off ign .. you can use the old coil wire just make sure it shows the same voltage as the battery
nice easy video..good step by step
Possibly a lost cause on a video this old, but, I have a 69 Camaro with a 350 running a HEI dis. It was always having issues running since the 20 years it sat due to that issue finally got it to run, directly connecting the HEI BATT to the battery only when firing it, but finally wanted to put it on a switch to not have it constant * we’d disconnect it once we warmed it up for a few minutes * now with the switch set up, none of the fuze terminals seem to work and let it fire up, and will short out. Returned it to wiring it off the battery and still shorts out ?! Any tips..? Seems as if the fuze box itself is just junk, electrical issues are not my space at all and would love any help If you’ve experienced anything or tips on what to test, seems like it’s the HEI but it was running 100% fine before, now going back to that it doesn’t run again ??
on your fuse box run a 12g from IGN alone terminal ( the 3 in the center.. the one on the bottom) to BAT on the coil . That is all you need to power the HEI
Thank you brother, I have learned a lot from you 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
My k5 loss power going down the road, and i narrowed it down to what i thought was a bad distributor. I bought a new one and installed it, but it still just cranks and wont start. I have fuel, but my spark is orange, so its weak. Ive got a new negative ground strap, and my other grounds look fine. Any suggestions?
the only time i have ever lost power was from a wire arching on the exhaust.. you say it wont start, though.. I have never had that problem associated with ignition.. ever... i have also never seen an orange spark.. all you can do first is run a jumper 12v straight from battery to BAT on the distributor and see if starts that way
Looking at your rotor about 7 mins in, would'nt that position be 180 degrees off from the #1 cylinder?? Or am I wrong? Thanks
when you do it in real life it looks different from watching some dip shit do it on a motor stand
Great video, Chris. Question: As long as I connect the + to the IGN space on the fuse box, I can then not worry about the existing wires to the dizzy? (I have a 93 S10 with a 4.3L). I can just ignore them?
you can use the existing positive coil wire on that truck
Thank you@@chriscraft77022
Awesome video sir. Thank you.
What is a tach? I took my old distributor out and dropped in an HEI but I didn’t mark where the plug was pointing to. Is that all you do is put the paper in the hole?
#1 wire on cap points to #1 cylinder.. the paper ball is just to make sure you are on top dead center of the compression stroke.. in other words if the ball popped out when the rotor was pointing away from #1… the distributor would be “180 degrees off” it is actually very difficult to understand what is going on at first
Might be a stupid question,. Can I run both the Alternator Dummy Light and the Distributor BAT wire from the ignition post at the key?? 1963 c10 with an unmarked fuse block. No idea which fuse is tied to ignition so I’d like to wire strait to Key IGN but the Alt dummy light is already there...
Yes, but you need a diode going to #1 on ALT... Watch my gm 3 wire hookup video
Chris Craft I watched your 3 wire video! Really appreciate the time you take to put these together. I inherited a truck with some crazy wiring. I’ve got the Alt diode wire hooked up to ignition post and it works just didn’t know if the distributor power wire would mess things up if i put it on the same post. Thanks again for your videos! I’m watching the Tach one next!!
i have watched a bunch of your videos. And i would like to thank you for taking the time to make them for all of us DIY out here. Thank you. Have a question on installing a HEI on a Chevy small block 265. I have the old style key switch but i have no tach. so of course I am wiring like you showed for the batt.from the key switch. So do i just leave tach open since i don't have one? Or does something else need to go there? Again thank you your videos have helped me a lot .
open
When findiing number one cylinder tdc on a sbc often times im by my self so ive taken me a 6 foot puece of hose that fits the spark plug hole well ans i put the other end in my mouth...this allows me to turn the engine by hand without looking at the cylinder.....also i only turn the engine til i get a good amount of pressure and stop. You know yur on no 1 compression stroke because your cheeks inflated. But you still gotta find the apex of its stroke and quickest way is keep turning engine until the slot on the harmonic balancer lines up with the 10k BTDC mark on yur block then yur done
any chance you can do a video on how to create that remote start console you have set up in this video?
The wire to our HEI unit has 12V when in "ON". It drops down to .5 V when we crank. Any idea what the problem is? It's a 1975 Cadillac.
Thanks for the video
Can I hook a Hei to a positive ground?
Thanks for the video! SUPER helpful.
Thanks for the tip on tight clearance with a 67 c10. I have a 71c10 with the motor set in the rear position. It's like that because it had a straight 6 originally which is a longer.
Same here, pain to remove the dizzy as well. One day I'll move it forward and bite the bullet for a longer driveshaft
My 81 Malibu stopped running the other day as I was leaving the lot, when it happened last week my grandfather said it was the distributor, and he fixed it, now it happened again, how would I go about diagnosing the issue In the distributor
Will you burn out the distributer coil if your gettong 12 volts when engine is off but accessories on?
not on electronic ignition
hi, what is the way when the removal position is lost?
the zero mark on the flywheel is finger on the cylinder 1 cable?
I have made the fine marking before, but which gear position clicks is lost,
is a Nissan H25 engine Forklift,
Hey man I'm rebuilding a 1976 gmc sierra classic 25, and it will only start if I run the 12v distributor wire directly to the battery. I have no power to the cab except lights and brake lights. Any ideas on what it could be? I also have to start it directly from the battery.
Good video. I've done this on my 72 but, I accidentally ordered a large cap internal distributor base, cap and rotor for my 90 firebird, not realizing I needed a small cap external coil. So now I'm thinking I could just run the pink wire off of the 2 wire pink/white wire harness that goes to the coil but, there's supposed to be another 2 wire harness, that has pink/black + a 4 wire connector that runs too the module, which I'm confident I don't need. It's a tbi obd1 with a carb and all the emissions crap is gone but, I still have the ecm installed to power the electric fuel pump, electric fan, etc. So my concern is, if I just ignore the 4 wire module connector, the pink/black connector and only plug in the pink (from key) wire from the pink/white connector, do you know if the ECM is gonna go haywire and burn up or shut down?
Helpful, thanks brother!