I finished the Buick 3.8 swap, got it ready to fire, and nothing. After having the Distributor tested at a shop and watching it fire, it still wont produce a spark when it's in the truck. I Replaced the power lead with 8 Ga. wire routing it through a starter solenoid triggered by the stock Toyota ignition wire. With over twelve amps at the distributor it still wont spark. I am baffled . I have tried everything I can think of. Has anyone ever heard of this with HEI? It's been two weeks of rewiring everything again, and again, and I'd really like to drive it. Thanks.

 

It is a one wire deal. Couple of things on GM HEI. Make sure you have battery 12 volts and not on 12 volts ignition! When you crank the engine and it is wired for 12 volts switched, you lose the 12 volts when cranking that is why it is marked "BATT" on the side of the cap. Make sure you have it on the correct side and not the tach side. Also make sure you have the metal ground tab in the cap that goes underneath the coil to the 3 wire connector or you will burn up the coil and/or ignition module. Make sure you ignition module is good and there is dielectric grease underneath it. If you did everything correctly then it is a bad ignition module or coil. -James

 

Thanks for the pointers James. It was a bad distributor, stinking A-1 Cardone and RockAuto. I will never buy anything electrical from those ninnies again. Three weeks of rewiring and grasping at straws. Ordered a different one from Summit and she fired on the first try. Now I just have to update the sig.