News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

Anybody know what year Cadillacs had this HEI Dist? How do I wire it in my 68?

Started by speach, October 24, 2011, 01:58:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

speach

I have this Distributor that I bought a while back. I am ready to do the HeI swap just not sure what to do as far as wiring it up. Any help is much appreciated. Below are photos of the HEI dist that I have and of my motor with the AC removed.
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

TJ Hopland

As long as it has the right shaft length for a Cadillac it looks like you got the correct distributor.  The chev ones look about the same so its hard to tell in the photo.    What is missing is the cap, rotor, and the coil.  Also missing is the coil cap, grounding bar, and the special locking terminal for the B+ wire.     The cap, rotor, and coil are not too difficult to find, any parts store should still stock those parts and they fit a ton of GM's for many years.  The coil cap and ground bar are not normal wear parts so they may be a little harder to find, perhaps a junk yard may be the ticket for those bits and you could then also get the connector and a hunk of wire.  I believe you would also ideally source the screws to attach the coil and the coil cap screws from a junkyard also.   A regular electrical .250 connector works fine but does not lock in like the OE one did.    The ground bar is a metal bar that fits under the coil in the cap and then bends around to the connector block to provide the ground connection for the coil to the ground wire to the distributor body.   

Assuming your car runs with the old distributor take notes on which wire is where and also use your timing light and tach and note the timing at various rpms both with the vacuum advance connected and then disconnected.   Write all this down, you may think you would remember it but its sure nice to go back to your notes and know for sure where you started.    Next remove the cap but not the wires yet, note which terminal / wire the rotor is now pointing at and which plug that wire goes to.   Remember that this engine the front left cylinder is #2, the front right is #1.   #1 is behind the alternator, #2 is behind the power steering pump.   7 is back by the AC box 8 is the brake booster.  You have now noted which cylinder the rotor is point at and the firing order they need to be in.   The distributor does not know or care which cylinder is where, it just knows the order they are in.  Sometimes the wires fit a little better if you have it in some sort of a standard configuration but I have found that most of the wires dont quite fit no matter what you do.  You can note where the rotor is now and where the wires are and try to duplicate that on the HEI.  The HEI distributor only really fits one way because of where the vacuum advance is and the upper radiator hose so it may take a few tries to get it right.  If you are trying to copy the locations of the old distributor note where the rotor is now then as you lift it note where it was pointing when it stopped turning as you lifted it.  It turns because of the way the gear is cut.  If you note where it stops and then set the new one in that same position it should then drop in and rotate itself as it drops to the correct position and also engage the oil pump properly and save you a lot of hassle.  You then put the new wires on so the same one is still pointing to the rotor as before and the rest then go on in the same order they were on the old cap.   You may have to bend the smog cross over pipe slightly to clear the bottom of the distributor.  If you have removed the ac you then use a shorter belt and you wont have any belt clearance issues.  IF you kept the AC the inner belt would rub slightly depending on how you oriented the cap.  The factory HEI cars had a single wider belt instead of the dual belt.  While the distributor is out is a good time to have a look down the hole and see how bad your cam gear is.  If the engine is fairly clean its easy to see.  If its dirty you will have to look a lot harder but can usually still tell how much is missing from the cam sprocket.  Its right at the bottom of the distributor hole. 

Electrical wise the harness in the distributor body plugs into the cap and then you connect the B side to the wires that used to feed the + side of the old coil.   Ideally you will bypass the ballast resistor which I am not sure how or where they did it in a 68, later it was a piece of wire.  I have seen many conversions run fine through the ballast resistor but 'they' say it should be eliminated.  I dont have any books for a 68 so I can't be much help there.

Make sure the vacuum advance can is working.  If its bad get a new one.  The new ones tend to have way too much advance in them, you can get fancy ones that come with a special washer to limit the travel but you can also make your own stop washers to limit the travel.   This is one reason you took readings with your old dizzy, if you dont like the performance after the swap you know what your base settings were and can work to get them back with the new dizzy which may require some work with things like limiting the travel of the vacuum mechanism or changing the travel in the weights and or changing the springs.   To take the readings on the vacuum can a hand vacuum pump is handy along with your timing light and tach.   

I dont have any of my cars handy but this picture should give you an idea how the distributor ends up sitting. 
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

speach

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to write all of this. I am sure others will benefit as well. I have recently done a bit of refreshing to this motor including new timing chain and gears. I have not quite gotten my timing correct with my old distributor yet. As far as the resistor I do know where it is so I will be sure to remove it. I have this HEI one so its as good of a time as any to get it going as soon as I can. Thank you for all of the helpful tips, I am sure ai wll be asking more questions when I begin. By the way I only have a belt on the outer groove as I have removed the ac Comp for now. Do you think I should be fine with one belt there?
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

TJ Hopland

I have been running 1 belt for over 10 years with no issues.  Perhaps with AC it could be an issue but with just the PS it seems fine.

It would still be worth taking some readings before you start even if they are not what you think is right. 

What is your timing issue?  You just cant rotate the dizzy far enough before the vacuum can hits something?

Was your timing set a fancy one with multiple keys?  Or just a stock type? 
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

speach

Thats what I thought about the belt. Well I did a lot of work all at once on my motor so now I am trying to get it to run smooth and not stall when in reverse, and for some reason it doesn't want to stay in drive??? It slips right out when I give it much gas. I had no problem with the transmission before I started the work, so I do not think it is the problem.  I am thinking that it has something to do with the shift sensor on the side of the carb. Do you know much about setting those things?
     In park the engine sounds great. Because I had almost everything apart I have had many things to adjust. I rechecked to make sure my wires are on the correct cylinders and they are ( new wires and plugs ). For some reason my timing light will not do anything when I put it on the wires including #1. I am going to try to borrow someone else's to see if the problem is my timing light. I am new to taking readings. I need to study some about doing that. The timing set that I installed is a stock type. 
Current cars:
1986 Military Chevrolet Diesel G30 Box Van
1968 Conv DeVille
1989 Toyota SpaceCruiser


You cant take your car with you in the end so drive the dang thing.

WilliamTrausch

TJ Hopland

I was asking about the timing set because the fancier sets have multiple key options to get different timing relations between the cam and crank.  They give this option for different performance setups.  Reading the instructions for these can be confusing so I was thinking if that is what you had you may not have the cam timed properly.   If you had the stock set there are no options, you just line up the dots and go.   No guarantee the timing is correct but at least it was not something you screwed up as long as you had the dots in a straight line.

The switch on the side of the carb is for the downshift or 'kickdown' function.   In other classic GM transmissions this was done with a cable.  If this did not work at all you would not get that downshift like for a passing situation.   If it was stuck on all the time you would get very delayed shifts and possibly no 2-3 shift.   If you have a quiet area to work with the key on engine not running you can hear the solenoid click in the transmission which should happen just before the pedal gets to the floor.  You only want this to engage when its floored.   Seems like I have had them stuck before and dont remember any stalling issues but I suppose it may be possible since it may change the internal pressures and perhaps at idle that is enough load change to cause the stall with the other issues you are having.    The popping out of gear does not sound normal.  I did not think and automatic could do that.  I would be looking for physical movement in the system like bad motor mounts or the linkage hitting something like perhaps exhaust?

Not sure about your timing light.   Is it an old school one where you have a metal clip and the power comes from a household outlet?   I have never used one of those but I understand that you need to connect it to metal which would mean working one of the boots up on a wire so you can access the metal parts of the contacts.    Most of the newer lights are inductive where the probe is a rectangle with a hole in it.  You just put it around the wire you want to test.  The power for these is usually alligator clips you connect to your battery.   The annoying thing about these Cadillacs is with #1 being on the other side of the engine you have to run the wires a long way and sometimes they get in the fan (dont ask how I know this).   Sometimes you can connect the probe near the distributor but I have found that many modern lights are too sensitive and will pick up other cylinders so you need to be closer to the spark plug because you dont have as many other wires there.   A trick you can use on the cadillacs to get around this and the fan problem is to use #4.   I use #4 for everything on the cad.   This is especially handy for finding the tdc of the compression stroke because you can have your finger over the hole and see the timing marks at the same time.    #1 and 4 are always at TDC at the same time its just one is exhaust and one is compression.   You just have to remember if you are setting the distributor this way that you need to be pointed at the #4 wire instead of #1.   THis does not change anything for the future or next guy, if the next person wants to deal with #1 they still can. 

   
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason