Thread: HEI wiring

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Hey guys,
First post here. I tried a search but no luck.

Old 70 Nova 350sbc. I pulled the Accell HEI distibutor out to put a new intake manifold on awhile ago and can't remember the wiring to it. I can't remember if there were one or two wires to it. I have a few wires hanging but I know some were not used and were hanging there already (should have marked them )
One wire is hot when the ignition switch is on, I assume that one goes to the tab marked "battery". One is marked battery the other is marcked tack, the center is ground?
Do I need to put a ground wire on?
Do I only need one 12 volt wire on the coil?

Thanks,
Brad

all you need is one wire to the battery male connector on the dist. works great. simple.

Yup, and the other terminal marked Tach is the pickup wire for your tachometer.... Nothing else required...

Thanks guys! Sure do appreciate it!

Happy motoring,
Brad

This car originally had a points ignition system and therefore would have had a ballast wire or ballast resistor for the feed wire from the run side of the switch to the coil. If you haven't done so already, replace this wire with a standard insulated copper wire. If the resistor wire is still in the system, you won't be getting a full 12v to the HEI.

Thanks,
I measured the wire for 12volts with ignition on and cranking.

I don't get spark
I believe the distributor is a GM HEI and ONLY the coil is accell. The base of the distributor has a three wire connector coming out of it. I don 't see a plug to mate to it and the terminals don't look like anything has been plugged into it in a long time. There is a module in the base of the distributor under the weights- doesn't that need 12 volts?
Thanks,
Brad

There are several different HEI configurations. The earliest ones only had the connections at the cap. IF there is a pigtail and connector coming out of the metal distributor body and it does not go to the cap, it is one of the spark control models....
Here is a good reference site:
http://reviews.ebay.com/HEI-Ignition...00000002053885

From this web page and a quick look to see if your distributor has centrifugal advance weights, you should be able to identify the thing. Also, note that different styles had a different module....different number of connector pins as described in the site.

Good luck

Mike in Tucson

Thanks for all the information - never new there were so many variations to HEI.

Plugged the connector to the cap and fired her up.

It looks so obvious now but I just couldn't remember the plug going to the cap, I looked for a mating plug off the firewall wiring and never found it.

She runs great!

Thanks again,
Brad

Bump....so i can find it later