HEI dist. in my 72 cutlass convert ?

[Guest]

I want to upgrade my 72 olds cutlass to a factory HEI distributer. I have the dist. already, it's from an 85 buick , 307 moter. [ I know about the olds dist. going the oposite direction ] What I need to know is, can I just splice into the pink [hot 12v] feed wire, or do I have to take the main body harnes connector apart, and replace the the pink with the one I got from " Year One". I'v also heard that the coil is different for the Olds dist. Any help would be great, Thanks, Lam.

[rocketraider]

You need to find a 1974-80 distributor. The 1985 distributor is computer controlled and not compatible with wiring on a non-computer car. All spark advance, dwell and spark firing functions won't work.

[Guest]

Thanks Rocketraider. How do I tell the difference between a 1974-80 HEI dist. and a later computer controled one. Is any I.D. on them to tell which is which if it is allready out of the car? ie. fleemarket stuff. This dist. that I have has a vaccume ddvance can on it, I thought the computer ones didn't have the external vaccume ddvance. Can you tell me about the power wire? I have heard that the power for the pionts dist. had a resister somewhere in it, and so I can not just splice into it.<BR>Thanks Lam

[rocketraider]

If it has a vacuum advance it will work. The computer distributor has 3 wires coming out the distributor baseplate and no vacuum advance; the old HEI has a plug that goes to the distributor cap and coil.<P>Yes- points distributor has a resistor wire that drops voltage at the points from 12vdc to around 7-9vdc to reduce point burning and pitting.<P>The simplest way I know to do HEI on a 72 car is to run a 12 gage wire from the fuse block to the distributor power terminal. Connect it to a circuit controlled by ignition switch, there should be blade terminals labeled "IGN" and "ACCY" on the fuse block. Either of these will be suitable to power your HEI. You may have to play around with base timing once you get the HEI in and the car running. Some of them have some pretty radical advance curves, notably the 260.

[Guest]

Thanks Rocketraider, I think I know what I have to do now. I had bought the power wire for the HEI earlier from " Year One ", and the Guy mentioned taking the main body harness connection apart and replacing the power wire that is there know, with the new power wire. It has the proper end to connect to the HEI dist. and the other end has a spade end, which is supposed to go into the space in the harness connector where the oiginal wire was. I just thought I could cheat a bit by splicing into the original power wire without messing with the 30 year old connector, I guess not eh.I knew it sounded to easy. Thanks for all the Info LAM.

[rocketraider]

Yaaah- it'll be easier to run the wire from the fuse block under the dash, thru the firewall and to the distributor than it will to unwrap and splice into the engine harness.<P>Really, as long as you can find an adequate 12v power source that is controlled by the ignition switch, you can power the HEI from about anywhere. One guy on 442.com swears by tapping into the windshield wiper motor power lead, but I think that's a really mickey-mouse way of doing it. I don't mind running an extra stand-alone wire to power something, but I don't like cutting wires without a good reason to do so. Good way to invite an electrical fire if you get into something you shouldn't.