According to the 1991 Camaro service manual electrical diagrams, my 1991 V8 5.7L engine distributor must be an HEI distributor since its VIN's 8th digit is 8. Apparently, that is the only difference in the ignition ssytem from a VIN F which is a 5.0 engine. The weird and confusing thing is that I have a regular est distributor with separate ignition coil, ICM under the cap, etc. Besides, all the spare parts available from rock auto or summit, under OEM, points to what I currently have: a NON-HEI distirutor. What gives? There MUST BE a logical explanation to this, such as a) The service manual is erroneous, b) They ran out of HEI parts when it came to this car )))) c) Car part sellers do not carry HEI much, d) the world has gone crazy ))

PLEASE HELP!

 

You have a small cap / divorced coil HEI. It is correct for your car, no conspiracy.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, however the schematics for VIN 8 seem not to show that setup, also, I do not see the ICM in that one, whereas in the second (bottom pic, VIN F), it shows the exact setup I currently have, hence my confusion.

 

Yes, the '92 FSM has the same mistake. I never looked at those wiring pages until now.

The small cap HEI with the remote coil is correct for both VIN F and VIN 8. The '90 - '91 5.7l Corvette TPI stayed with the large cap distributor with the integral coil. That may be where the error came from.

RBob.

 

Cool Anyhow, here is an actual problem I have: during the "grand" rebuild where the engine was stripped to its bare block and then frankesteinizied, it seems I lost a cable; it cranks but no ignition. Let me describe it to make sure:
Coil has two female sockets each w/ double entries; I am trying to figure out which two separate double-wire male sockets connect to those.
According to this schematics:
1) One links ICM's 2-wire socket to coil; this one looks literally like a connecting cable, since it can become entirely disconnected from everything, it seems I misplaced this one.
3) The other receives a socket from the main electrical harness, number 8 in the schematics.
Q: Am I correct?

 

Yeah, you need the harness that goes from the distributor to the coil as you described. I have some extras of those if you can't find yours

 

I really appreciate your help, but am posted 10K miles away

However, IF I cannot manage it w/ what they have here, I will let you know: then, it will be much appreciated if you can send them to my US address from where a friend of mine can ship it over here. Regardless, thank you very much for your time, again

 

Also for vin E

 

This is true... Along with some of the earlier f-body's...

RBob.