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HEI electronic ignition discussion
https://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28732		 Page 29 of 34
Author:  DusterIdiot [ Sat Feb 04, 2017 8:43 am ]
Post subject:  Np
Thanks Charlie. I support my product, so I just want to make sure I know what happened, and how to prevent it on any other recurve I do.

This is the only side play failure I have had on a recurve. (The only other failure was a pick up that turned out to be defective). More commonly I have seen the top mainshaft peg the governor sits on get bent, and cause the reluctor to wobble (can happen if the distributor is dropped nose first onto a hard surface). Dan's Mexican EI distributor had the center hole drilled offset from the factory was another interesting find. But I catch these issues when I spool up the shaft in the main body before assembly.
Author:  ESP47 [ Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
About to change my 75 D100 318 over to HEI. This truck has a 4 terminal ballast resistor. I know you just connect the wires together on a 2 terminal resistor. Do you have to do anything special with a 4? Thanks.
Author:  gdizzle [ Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
Hey I just want to add in some of my experiences with this upgrade so it lives on forever in the interweb demension.

#1: I followed all the suggestions , including purchasing the Chrysler Distributor from OCPN. These units are advertised on eBay as NOS. A little more detail on that means, this distributor has been sitting on a shelf (maybe in a box, maybe not) for over 40 years. When the distributor arrived, I noticed rusty appearance on the inside plates and for some strange reason the vacuum advance did not work? After having the unit completely disassembled it was determined that the springs were rusted and stuck. And that the factory lube gobbs had completely hardened and were not allowing the plates to move apart. It all had to be cleaned and regreased etc... Also had to replace the vacuum pod from the 11 to the VC239 which is 8.5, which was the only way to get the advance to work without causing pings.

#2: Hunted down the MO3000 rotor, used it for awhile until I went to check on the rotor and saw that it had been making full contact with all the terminals in the cap, had worn down all of the terminals (evidence of a fine brass dust everywhere inside the cap and diz), and the Rotor tip had also worn down (a nice groove) and loosened from its small rivet that holds it onto the tang. The tang wiggles. (there is a discussion on all of that somewhere on this site)

#3: using the 45 gap caused random misses. 40 fixed it. Along with going back to the Blue Streak CH303 rotor.

#4: I grabbed the HEI setup from the junkyard off a 99 truck, and the eCoil (older style) has 3 terminals (not 2 and not 4), these are the small terminals that only work with the attached wire (which I also grabbed from the junkyard truck). I was able to utilize the middle terminal for my Tach, so that is a pretty nice bonus.

#5: Finding anywhere with the thermogrease/paste in stock is impossible. No one at any of the major stores (pep, Zone, nap) knows what it is. Had to order on Amazon, under the name CPU thermal paste. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QZ ... UTF8&psc=1

#6: have an extra ICM in your glovebox at all times (along with the paste). It will strand you and it will happen when you are sitting at a traffic light at idle. And you will be alone.
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
Quote:
Hunted down the MO3000 rotor, used it for awhile until I went to check on the rotor and saw that it had been making full contact with all the terminals in the cap, had worn down all of the terminals (evidence of a fine brass dust everywhere inside the cap and diz), and the Rotor tip had also worn down (a nice groove) and loosened from its small rivet that holds it onto the tang. The tang wiggles. (there is a discussion on all of that somewhere on this site)
MO-3000 is old/outdated info, no longer recommended. Read and follow instructions in this thread. It's long, but worth reading the whole thread.
Author:  gdizzle [ Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
oh, ok so I guess it was outdated. . I looked over that thread, lots of testing that is way over my head. But I did find the instructions for grabbing the tang off a FD117 and swapping it on. Will see how hard that is. Can you tell me, is there a way to tell if the tang is rubbing on the terminals without removing the dizzy from the car?? Like once I put the cap back on, how can I tell if it is rubbing on the terminals??
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Tue Jan 02, 2018 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
It'll do like this (search page for word locator)) Deeyikes…just under a year shy of a decade ago!
Author:  gdizzle [ Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
Thanks Dan for the link. But not sure if it answered my question of, how can I tell if the rotor is rubbing against the terminals once I install the cap?? Maybe I get screwdriver (long) put it in one of the towers, hand crank the engine via fan and listen for a sssccccrraaapppe ? Would that work? Or were you pointing me to that post to show me which Rotor to buy??
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
That post describes what rotor-hits-cap sounds and looks like. If you're not sure, run the engine a bit then pop the cap and use simple yet powerful eyesight.
Author:  gdizzle [ Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
SSD all of these posts, and I just got a brilliant idea for checking if the rotor is hitting the terminals.
Do a continuity test, take one lead to the center , then take the other lead to one of the spark plug wire posts (1-6). turn on the continuity tone, slowly turn the fan blades , if you hear a BEEEEEEEPPP then you know rotor made contact with a terminal. You could do the test on each spark plug wire post to check each one.

Has anyone ever thought this up? genius.

Let this live on forever in the WWW.
Author:  DonPal [ Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
Quote:
if you hear a BEEEEEEEPPP then you know rotor made contact with a terminal.
Then fix it......Get out your favorite Dremel with cutoff wheel and grind some material off the offending post until the rotor clears it. You are on your way to fixing a poorly machined cap.
Author:  JPaull [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
I just did a HEI Swap on a 82 B150 that had spark control and it runs great. However.......... I'm scared to drive it to work cause after only 10 minutes of idling the module is REALLY hot. I cant touch the Heat sink. I have a heat sink + heat sink paste. I read all 29 pages of this thread and see some mention there's gets hot, but people say its normal.

My question, is there anything that makes the module get hotter then it should?

I'm using a E-Tron Duralife (USA Made) Module and MSD Streetfire 5526CR Coil(GM TBI replacement that has uses the chevy black/grey connectors)
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
Never heard of this "E-Tron Duralife" brand. I'm not an all-knowing oracle or anything, so it's entirely possible they've been around all along and I just never ran into them, but given my involvement with auto parts over the years…I kind of doubt it. Who the hell knows how much truth they're telling when they claim the part is American made? Who the hell knows how good their stuff is, no matter where it's made?

Also, who the hell knows if that MSD coil (most of these are made in China now) is compatible with the module you bought?
Author:  JPaull [ Sat Feb 10, 2018 9:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
I did something abit different with my HEI Conversion. I sandwhiched the module inside a CPU 12v cooling fan and heat sink combo, and it sits in the glove box. After 2 hour drive, the module itself is not even luke warm. The heatsink has a "Pad" flat spot with heat sink paste on it and fits the module perfect. (Thermaltake Gravity I2 heatsink/fan combo only $13)

Image

Image

I mounted the coil/relay under the dash.

Image

Its a B150 van, I figured its good to keep this stuff out of the heat and easy to get to from inside, no popping hoods and standing in the rain/heat. Its a $600 dodge van, and not a vintage classic so im not worried about originality, just functionality.

Image

Thank You Dan for the great idea. I got the distributor from your recommended old car parts now on ebay. I got a AC delco coil and Echlin Module. (MSD coil and Etron Module keeping as spare)
Author:  east3rd [ Thu May 17, 2018 6:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
Lesson learned! I found Dan's original article on the conversion and decided to give it a go after the current HEI swap that was done by the previous owner seemed to have failed. Long story short, there was nothing wrong with the original swap! After countless youtube videos on how to test your ignition/HEI for component failure, I finally thought "why not test the ignition coil wire?". Unfortunately, none of the videos I watched thought to mention this simple step which now seems more than obvious. Live and learn. So here I am with a full HEI swap ready to go (new coil, module, connector, coil wire) with no need to install.

What I need to find is the replacement coil wire that fits the GM ignition coil - I've searched Rock Auto (https://www.rockauto.com/en/tools/ignit ... +wire,7072) but not sure which one of these will connect to the coil I have (looks similar to this https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 9&jsn=1058). Any help would be hugely appreciated for this /6 rookie ; )
Author:  MrFusion [ Sat May 19, 2018 10:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: HEI electronic ignition discussion
I used a set of cheap plug wires for convenience. Mistake. SSD was dead on about HEI capable plug wires. While I was adjusting the distributor I was being shocked through leather gloves (it was a humid day). I had to put a rubber sand blasting glove on. I'm waiting on a quote from Magnecor on a set of wires. Looking in to other options for HEI wires as well.
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