J69shep

I changed to HEI because I'm to lazy to change the points every year. Added the GM HEI and new summit wires. Plugs were fine. Dropped in the distributor, wired it up and set the timing 9 Degrees BTDC. Added this open air cleaner with the powder coat black lid. It starts real nice and runs like a dream.

coppercutlass

Try a little more initial timing. My set ups always like 12 to 14 initial. My hei has 20 degrees mechanical so ot worked put good. 14 plus 20 is 34 total so that's the sweet spot for me.

Fun71

I agree, 9º with a GM HEI is way too low. Mine has 18º mechanical advance so I set the initial to 16-18 for 34-36 total. If yours is similar then it may have only ~27º total advance.

olds 307 and 403

They do vary but I say 38 total and as much vacuum advance without pinging will run stronger on the street. I have found 36 total better for the track even though it felt weaker on the street.

J69shep

It runs great at 9 btdc initial. no ping, no dieseling no hesitation and starts easy. Burns rubber up and down the street. I'm leaving it there for now, I'm heading out of town and it's too hot to work on anyway, so It'll have to wait for a week or so.

Fun71

I see you're in AZ. What area?

J69shep

Ken, I'm in Scottsdale off the 101 and FLW near Westworld.

Fun71

Ah, the other side of town from me. I'm in the south part of Ahwatukee.

My442

Did you use the existing resistor wire to connect to the HEI?

J69shep

I ran a 12 ga wire from the IGN terminal on my fuse panel to the 12V connection on my HEI. I ran the wire from the fuse panel through the firewall to the HEI plug. I am not aware of a resistor wire on my rig although it may be part of my old points wiring which I left intact but just taped up to avoid shorting. Who knows maybe the next owner might want to go back to a points system. HEI needs the full 12V and a resistor wire would drop that voltage to something less if you use that wire. There is also a TACH wire that you can connect to your tach. I'm going with rally gauges down the road a bit and I'll hook it up then. In the meantime mine is disconnected. Let me know if you need detailed pics and I'll be glad to post a few. It's a super easy that takes a few hours to complete. It runs about the same but it starts much easier IMO

White_Knuckles

Cool, HEI is a dandy-fine solution if you're not going MSD or Ricky Racer stuff. I had an HEI in the '70 olds 350 swapped in. Having ignition issues from the prior owner I discovered a couple things that may help others.

The olds dist runs backwards of course therefore it needs to be an Olds HEI. That was right but the coil was a basic GM. The connectors were Black/Yellow. The internal coil wiring polarity was backwards where the Olds specific, Black/White coil is correct. These are easy to find. The reason to swap them is a little bazaar but has to do with the alternator mount side and how the coil with reversed windings can create a weak spark on startup. Some sort of RF interference. Wow. It did correct hard (when hot) start issue.

The second trick is to use genuine GM HEI modules. The after-market or NAPA specials are questionable. GM got a bad rap in the early days that they had thermal issues and wimped out before the rev limit etc. They corrected those bugs and make reliable unit today. They may cost a bit more but they work great. I use computer CPU thermal paste that transfers heat way better than the goo tube they ship with.

Yep, leave the dist mount a little loose take her out on the road and hand set the timing a touch back from ping under hard throttle. Retest 'till she scoots without ping, tighten and forget it. I respect the degree wheel, light dialer pros but never can get it as well as the manual (maybe hack) method.

Fun71

No, it's the "other brands" that run backwards.

quaddriver

A small hint: use the initial timing of the donor car of the HEI - if known. that will give you clue as to the springs installed on that particular distributor for that year.

and goto 060/080 (whichever applicable) plugs.