Hey guys, have a few questions on the hei distributor conversion i am doing.

To start- Its a 1986 Camaro, orig a v6 MPI, that i have swapped a carbed 1st gen 350 into, that org had points distributor. I am now adding an HEI to that engine.

My questions are
1. I had to screw down the oil pump drive to get the dist. to fit snug, i did it little by little till it fit in, but how do i know how far i was supposed to go? did this affect timing at all?

2. I realize TDC, and to mesh up the rotor and cap contact points in the right firing order, but, where does the dist. supposed to point? around 5o'clock? and why does that matter? I thought as long as where the dist sits and plug wire is going directly to cyl 1 it didnt matter. I need correction on this and need to know if this affects why it DOES NOT spark for me as i crank it over.
I connected the red wire to the pos+ side of battery and black to ground, yellow wire to tach. Leading to my 3rd question..

3. The wiring, i realize the way i have it is wrong. I need to hook it up to the ignition wires, which i believe is the connector with the Pink w/black stripe and Black w/ white stripe wires. However i am not certain. I know the dist needs 12v but needs to be switched from the ign. Where do i hook up my wires on the dist. to the car's harness?

4. Need it to spark will my 3 questions cause the spark? my grounds are good

Any info i would really appreciate. Also i will try to tag in a picture of the connector i believe to attach to the dist. Let me know if that is the correct connecter ( the pins are male)

Thanks!

 

Doesn't matter what direction rotor is pointing so long as it is pointing at #1 wire when # 1 cylinder at top dead center on COMPRESSION stroke.
A piston comes to TDC twice in it's cycle so you have to be on the right TDC otherwise you are 180 degrees out
Ground is through the dist body to engine.


Just reuse the IGN wire ( pink ? ) you had going to the Pos + terminal on coil in old points setup

Are you talking about the wires on the black connector coming out of the dist body.
That connector plugs into the dist cap ; the power (12V) and tacho wires plug into the two marked terminals in front of that connector on the cap

 

#2 - you have to set the engine to TDC on compression stroke on #1 cylinder - each piston makes 2 TDC's, one on compression, one on exhaust, take #1 spark plug out and hold finger over hole while someoe turns engine over - when you feel pressure, the valves are closed thus compression stroke, then line up timing mark to zero. Now - wherever rotor is pointing, that needs to be your #1 plug wire on the cap, then follow firing order in a clockwise fashion around cap for other wires.

Doesn't matter where the rotor points, as long as that terminal on the cap is the #1 plug - it's just that most folks find TDC first and then stab dist into intake so that the rotor points towards #1 cylinder just as a reference - so later they can easily know when rotor is pointing to #1 cylinder that they are at TDC on compression stroke.

 

Im so embarrassed to say this.. But i never connected the 3 prong connector to the cap. Here i am trying to find a harness that would connect up to the connector on the distributor body that is supposed to go to the cap.

Anyways its hooked up right now so i shouldnt have a problem there. I know i am at TDC. I took out the spark plug and put painters tape over the hole, turned it over till it made a loud pop and the tape flew off. Backed up the harmonic balancer to the 0 deg mark.

I just need to know where my ign wire is. I never had the points dist hooked up either. This entire car was completely ripped apart so idk where the ign wire is. I believe its the pink/blk wire that i posted a picture of in my last post.

6 years ive been waiting to hear this thing run and its all hopefully about trying to find that ign wire now. Any ideas?

Ill keep you guys updated on it.
Thanks

 

You said you backed up the harmonic balancer. I am wondering if you were right. Probably if only a little back if turning it other than very slow. What I do is turn it till I feel it pushing air out then keep turning till the marks on the balancer line up. If you went to far then you would be backing up.
The correct wire is a pink or pink with stripe wire with a second wire on that connector. I could not tell if it was what you tried showing. The pink wire is to the BAT terminal and the other (gray or white?) is to the TACH terminal.
If everything is right then it should run but rember that the tach will be reading to fast. 8 pulses to one revolution now as compared to the 6 per before so 900 will read as 1200 RPM's. Take what it is showing and divide by 4 then mult by 3. This is of course assuming that you have not changed the tach to a V8 tach.

 

Thanks.
Yea i finally have it running! its been a long time.
The pink/blk wire was the right wire for the distributor. The other i do believe is the tach which i have not hooked up yet. I will be putting in all new gauges, the 145 mph gauge. Idk how much of a headache that will be to do. But i do not have the org v6 gauges anymore.

I know am in a problem with trying to retard my timing, it wont let me, it will die out and i cannot start it again. I have the vacuum line from carb to dist disconnected with a nail thru the line and the vacuum advance on distributor turned all the way counter clockwise. I believe since its an HEI i want it 2-4 deg advanced more over the factory 8 deg BTDC which would make it around 6-4 deg retarded? am i correct? Then if i can somehow get it to run at that, what do i do with my vacuum lines? im not sure how this works. how do i know how much i should be turning the alen wrench inside the dist valve to get the correct vacuum again.

Thanks you guys

 

Timing on a carbed engine with vac adv dist is going to be a whole new ball game from whatever factory timing specs were. It really doesn't matter where you set your initial timing to, as long as the engine runs good and there's no knocking at WOT.

Mine is set at about 14* BTDC right now. I had mine set to about 10* BTDC, but then I noticed I was only getting to about 24*BTDC total timing at 3000 rpms. I needed more total timing before the 3000rpm mark, so I advanced to about 14* BTDC which gets me to about 28* total by 3000rpms - any higher on mine and I start to get a spark knock at WOT. For me, I need lighter springs installed so that I can get more timing advance in before 3000rpms - everyone says you want about 32* - 34* total timing by 3000rpms.

So, you'll need to get a functioning tach to get it really tuned in, but to get her running and driving, just set your initial timing at a point where she runs good with no spark knock at WOT - I'd set it about 10* BTDC and see where that gets you.

Oh - the vac adv on dist should be connected to the ported vac connection on your carb. But, should be disconnected and plugged off to set your initial timing. Your carb should have a ported vac source and a manifold vac source - the ported only gets vac (in theory) above an idle, while the manifold source gets vac always. In most cases, you only want the dist to get vac above an idle, so that your timing is only advanced by the vac above an idle.

BTW - if you have slight vacuum issues regarding brakes - sometimes you can bump the timing up a degree or two, then adjust the carb idle down a hair and this will give you a tad more vacuum.

But basically every engine is different, and you'll just have to play with timing a little bit here and there until you find what the engine likes. I carried my timing light, dist wrench, and screwdriver for carb adjustment with me for weeks dialing in little bits here and there.

 

Oh - forgot - most timing tabs don't show past 10 or 12 BTDC - I got a Mr. Gasket timing tape for $8 and put it on my balancer, that way I could see timing past 12* all the way up to 60* I think. Helps to see what total timing is at any given rpm, and helps you to know exactly what timing you are at if you need to set initial above 12.

You can also turn engine by hand so that the timing mark on balancer is set at say 0, then make a scratch or white marker line on the balancer at say 6 on the AFTER TDC line (to the driver side of the balancer scribe) - then you can look at YOUR mark rather than the scribed line on the balancer, knowing that you need to add 6 to whatever it reads.

For example, you make a mark at 6*ATDC, and look at initial timing - the balancer scribe is off the scale, but YOUR MARK reads 8*BTDC - you would add 6 so you know your initial timing is actually 14*VTDC - make sense?

 

Yes. Thanks a lot camaroone.. very helpful
Ive got it running, i need to finish up a few other things brake related and hopefully take it out for a spin and work on fine tuning. I know i will need to take notice into the vacuum on my brakes since i did an all disc LS1 conversion. Although i do not believe i would need as much vacuum as before.

 

Some interesting reading ;ported vs manifold vac for dist advance

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?ui...15320&topic=39
http://www.gofastforless.com/ignition/advance.htm