Hi All,
I understand the upgrade from a points dist. to an HEI and how the HEI needs 12 volts but my question is regarding the 12 volt source. I have an open terminal on my fuse block under the dash marked "IGN". Can I run a wire from there to the "BAT" terminal on the distributor?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated

Thanks

I did a search and it should work fine as long as the +12 volt supply is only present when the ignition switch is in On or Start position.

Check out the wiring diagrams from this sites home page in the "Categories Menu" called Electrical Systems.

My '79 has a 1974 block which wasn't supposed to have a HEI but it was upgrated to one before I purchased it. I added MSD HEI upgrades (module, coil, cap, rotor and wires) and didn't have any problems except I still need to add an 8830 noise reducer to eliminate radio/CD interference or find another "cleaner" power supply for the sound system.

The ballast drops the stock voltage down. If you remove the ballast you will have 12 volts. Did this in my 71 pick-up. Worked great. I have heard that the stock ign wire is too small. On my Nova I did replace the wire with a larger gauge (12 I think). I just traced the wire back to the harness, unpluged it and open up the stock clipped and replaced the wire. Solder all conecctions and don't froget the regrease the harness. You can also lose the ign wire on your starter for a cleaner engine compartment. (this wire provides 12 volts on startup in older systems). You'll be glad you made the switch to HEI.

Thank you
Happy Holidays

This may be a little late but just for my .02...

When I switched out the points dist. on my 74 to an HEI I just went ahead and used the same tap that the original feed wire used. I had to run a new piece of wire tho.

The old piece of wire for the points was actually a resistor wire and dropped the voltage down to around 9 volts by the time it hit the dist.

Another caution is to those that still use points or just purchased an Elky that still uses them. Dont bother installing a ballast resistor block before the brown resistor wire that feeds your points. It's redundant and will drop your distributor voltage to like 6 volts. I drove around for a year with such a configuration. It was a real "DOH!" moment when I discovered my error. Spent that whole year wondering why the engine ran so crappy...

This was due to not knowing about the resistor wire.

Live and learn I guess....

:D

i always run a 14 guage wire straight from the IGN out to the BATT terminal on the cap

quick and easy

remove all the points feed wiring, from the starter and from the firewall block

good luck

There is some good advice here. Yes you can trace the "resistor" wire back to the firewall and replace it and that will work. You can supply the 12 volts from another source, but make sure it is off when the engine is not turning. These wires connect to the Batt terminal on the distributor/coil. I have done this several times myself.