HEI installation questions from a newbie.

Hey guys. ive been replacing my pestolite with a hei distributor today. I have somt questions.
Bought this on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...79&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1&viewitem=



1. The gasket that comes with the distributor, should i use it or not? Manual says something with "DONT USE, because i can get a bad ground with can damage electric parts" - is that ciorrect? There was no gasket on the pestolite.

2. On the old pestolite distributor, there was a hose connected, with went into a pipe, that went to the right side of the engine, where it goes in with 2 other pipes. WHat is it for, and should i connect it again ?

3. How do i set timing, and what does it do ?
(ive put the engine in 0" THC, before plugging the HEI in) (the wheel says 12 6 4 0 BEFORE) ive put the line to BEFORE 0 - is that okay?

4. What is vacuum advance, and what should i do ?

5. i have removed the coil, i assume that is correct when the hei have inbuild coil?
6. Should i remove my ignition module?
7. From the pestolite distributor, comes two wires. a blue and yellow, are one of theese wires, the one i should use for the HEI ? it looks like they are comming from the ignition module..

 

Yes.

 

Just connect the hose to the new distributor.

The coil and module for the HEI is inside the distributor, so the Prestolite module and original coil can be removed.

The only wire you need to the HEI is the red wire that went to the coil. You can remove the coil and the green, blue and yellow wires completely.

The red wire to the module is the same as the red wire to the coil. The red wire comes from the ignition switch (dash) and to the connector on the coil, then goes on to the module. I would cut the red wire where it comes from the ignition switch, and splice that wire into your HEI. Then you should be able to remove the green, blue, yellow and remaining red wire, the module connector, the coil, the coil bracket, and the module.

Re the gasket, I don't know. If you leave it out, at worst, it'll leak a little oil.

Did I cover everything?

 

ahh okay, i will do that!

How about gasket, vacuum, and timing? Any explanation to that?

 

Oh, timing ...

That's very important. You should not have removed the old distributor until you understand about timing.

The distributor has to be in the right rotational relationship with the camshaft and crankshaft timing of the engine. This is the timing.

The first aspect is the firing order. When cylinder #1 is at top dead center (TDC) of the compression stroke of the engine, the rotor must point to the post where the #1 spark plug wire connects. Ideally you would have turned the engine to #1 TDC, noted the location of the rotor, removed the old distributor, and put the new distributor in with the rotor pointing the same way. Then if you connect the new spark plug wires up in the same order on the new cap, the firing order will be correct.

Maybe somebody else can help you with timing (advance) and vacuum advance. I'm getting pooped out.

 

Actually i did that, but i realised that the old distributor didnt point to any sparkplug, it was off by 1 cm or so. Judged from my vision, and not measured. lol. That may have been one of the reasond the engine was running so bad. So i figured i would just start all over, set engine in 0" TDC, out in dist, turn it so dist was pointing to spark plug, and that is that? I assume it doesnt matter witch sparkplug the dist points to, as long as i just follow the firiring order, clockwise on the dist ???

 

Do you know how to tell the difference between TDC on the compression and exhaust stroke? This is a 4-stroke (Otto cycle) engine, so the 0 degrees mark comes up twice for one full cycle.

If you set the engine on 0 on the compression stroke of cylinder #1, you can put the distributor in any orientation that is convenient. You simply assign a distributor cap location to #1, and starting there, attach the wires in their firing order (clockwise from above, I think).

 

Actually, no i do not know when to telle the difference between the compression and exhaust stroke - how do i do that ? I looked in the cylinder, and could feel the piston 2 or 3 cm's from the spark plug hole..

 

Here's a thread that may be helpful

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/how-replace-distributor-784061/

Basic stuff - you should be able to find other threads on different forums with similar information.

 

I installed the hei now, connected the wire, started the engine, rotated a little bit on the heio to get a smooth idle. Then i drove a trip. That did not went well, engine is not goin smooth when i throttle it. Tried adjusting the hei position again and again, and then the engine will jump when i put it into gear, and then adjust back etc. Couldent get it running decent. Maybe my power source is not 12 volts ? Or can this be caused because i might have installed the hei when TDC 0 was at exhaust stroke ?

 

Will the exhaust stroke give me compression aswell?

 

no if it was 180 off (exhaust) it wont run. itll pop and chug not fire.. check for 12 volts at the red wire at dist,an easy test is a jumper from the positive bat post to the bat post on hei the jeep will run with jumper but the key wont shut it off pull the test wire to kill it...

 

Did you set the timing? You need to set the timing with a timing light.

http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP7520..._2?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1281218759&sr=8-2

The distributor has to be rotated so that the ignition fires at 8 degrees before TDC. The setting varies with year and model. Check your TSM for the spec and the procedure.

 

Also, your plug wires should be at least 7 mm , set plug gap at .048 .

 

didnt set plug gap. WIres are 8.5 mm.

Is it really nesscary to set timing with light? I guess that is where we have the problem then.

 

What is a jumper?

 

on my harmonic balancer, i have some degrees, and then it says BEFORE. Can i set timing manually by setting the harmonic balancer to 8 degrees, rotating hei, so rotor is out to nr. 1 ?

Does i have compression on the exhaust stroke?

 

your doing good. now for some fine tuning. A jumper is a no 12 wire you hook to the possitive side of the battery to the hei, to see if you getting enough power to the hei. Hei reguire lots of amps. Setting time by ear[trial and err] is done all the time but as Tim pointed out a timing light is best .