paul879

Has any one changed from points to eletronic dist in A 69 olds cutlass and will a 75 dist work . do i have to do any major changes

extreme1

you will have to replace the entire ignition wire from the fuse panel to the distributer with a regular wire, the one in there now contains a resistor.

Olds FAQ -- Ignition

BILL DEMMER

additionally, you will want to have the distributor re-curved to match your application, for proper performance. the "electronic" distributor you mentioned is more accurately referred to as HEI(high energy ignition). if you can supply a distributor number, i can look-up the stock specs. for it.


bill

paul879

The existing wire to coil has two wires in it taped together ,I changed dist to HEI not sure of year I had three sitting around I put in new eletronic points fron excell and A new coil w cap n rotor new wires and plugs old gap was around 35 put gap wnew plugs at 60 car started right up I know around 74-75 gap w HEI was around 60 and body have any diffrent advice just havent drove car yet

paul879

bill were do i look for numbers and how many should there be

Warhead

SOLDER ALL the connections on the wire from the fuse panel, to the HEI. HEI likes ALL the voltage you can get it, and NO loose connections, NO crimped connections.

Run a .045 gap in your plugs with an HEI. Any more gap is WASTED.

Jim

paul879

Ill try that warhead.o45gap manuel say 74 -75 HEI has 60-80 gap depending on motor ,but car startts up much better more responsive

TripDeuces

There is another way to get around replacing the resistor wire. Get a relay and use the resistor wire to energize the relay. On the relay you'll have a 12 volt source wire from the battery, 'the feed wire' and another that goes to the 12 volt terminal on the HEI. I believe the 4th wire is ground. Did this on my 65 Riviera to make the Pertronix ignition work properly.

BILL DEMMER

ALWAYS make good connections anywhere in the electrical system. use a 12 gauge wire for the HEI B+ line, they require wattage(current & voltage) with very low impedance. the relay idea is a good one too. i run a .050 gap on mine.

the distributor number is stamped on the smooth area just below where the cap meets the distributor body and it is 7 digits. if you find a combination of 4 numbers and letters, that is the build date code for that distributor. you may need steel wool or a wire wheel to clean up the area where the numbers are.

if you're running an externally regulated alternator it's a very good idea to update to an internally regulated alternator, a 10si or 12si alternator is an easy upgrade to do. alternatively, replacing the electro-mechanical regulator(points type) with a solid-state replacement regulator will help alleviate potential ignition problems. HEI's don't like the spikes and noise produced by the electro-mechanically regulated alternators, this is why gm changed across the board when HEI came out.


bill

goatwgn

One more thing (unrelated to the installation itself, which all of you have covered here) to a small surprise that may crop up. Dont know what air cleaner you have on your 69, but my 74 factory air cleaner would not clear the HEI after I installed it. I had to notch the back of it. An air cleaner that is offset from a 75-80 model,or a smaller diameter one from a 260-307 would work as well, or you could just install an open element.