Hi all.

Picked up a brand new HEI unit for my 455. Does anyone have a full set of instructions typed up on how to install this unit on my 455?

I'll state right off that I know I have to replace the plug wires due to the terminal change on the distributor cap.

Thanks in advance for your pictures and instructions.

Woofwagon.

 

Pretty much pull the cap off your old one look at the way the arm is pointing(helps if you turn the block over till its pointing at somthing easy to remeber) then remove the bolt that holds it still. And then pull it up and put the new one in its place add a straye 12 power sorce from your ignishion and I tjink thats up sorry its its cinfusing (from phone)

 

Thanks, but I think the wiring is a little more complicated than that. One wire that I know of is a resistor wire that has to be replaced with a 12ga wire.

 

yeah i did this on mine i just used a female crimped wire
i can take a pic for you tomorrow but theres a block on your fire wall thats held in by one bolt. right next to your brake booster.

fallow the + wire from your coil to that block unbolt it and swap the wire the connector will fit in the exact slot the old wire was in but it wont be as long but it will still make the connection or you could solder it on there.
there will be one part on the hei that wont have a wire hooked in thats for the tac

went out sind super dark tryed any ways. so replace the wire on the coil with a real one from this box to the new cap.

sorta funny how i explained it hope it helps

 

Not really. In spite of the phone gibberish, he pretty much nailed it.

Exactly.

No crimping.

Just solder it.

As LiquidPower said,
• Either open up your harness, follow the resistor wire to the firewall block, pull its connector out, and replace it with a 12ga wire SOLDERED to a new ¼" female connector, wrap your harness back up, and connect the other end of the 12ga wire to the BAT terminal of the HEI with another ¼" female connector, OR
• SOLDER a 12ga wire to the pink wire that comes out of your ignition switch, pass it through the firewall, and connect it to the BAT terminal of the HEI as above.

That's it.

Ignore the yellow wire form the starter, or connect it to the BAT terminal of the HEI, your choice, doesn't matter.

- Eric

 

Thanks, sounds really simple now.

 

I am having a similar problem. Been working on this rebuild (70 442) for several years now which is part of the problem. Had the HEI in it before and it worked fine but I replaced the harness to that part and have long since forgotten how I had it wired before. Thought I had it wired correctly but it wouldn't start. Checked the wire to the coil and it is hot with the key in the Run position but not in the start mode. Found several of these threads in this forum and started checking for the pink wire. Unfortunately there is more than one. It SEEMS like the pink wire plugged into the fuseblock where it is labeled IGN would be great candidate but it behaves the same way. Test light is on with the switch in the Run position but the light goes out when the key is turned to the Start position. Any ideas or recommendations?

Thanks

 

You need to connect the wire that runs from your starter to the same connection at the distributor to get that signal (it will have an "I" or an "R" on the solenoid).

 

in a '70 the IGN circuit should be energized in both RUN and START (unlike early-60s cars).

I'd check your ignition switch.

- Eric

 

Thanks. I am currently running the black wire in the harness to the S terminal. I did not connect the yellow wire to anything which I would swear is what i read on this forum somewhere. Now I can't find the reference so I must have misread it or made it up. I realized after I ordered the new harness that it was made for a car with points and didn't exactly represent what I had. I clipped the end off of the black wire that landed near the distributor and put a spade on it to connect to the battery connection on the cap. Should this wire then be removed and replaced with a wire from the R side of the solenoid? Are there supposed to be two wires feeding the coil? If so do I just solder them both to the same spade? Seems like this would cause some kind of problem with the starter but maybe I am not picturing this correctly.

 

Okay, in the original points system, there should be a resistor wire going to the + coil terminal from the fuse block, through the firewall connector, and a yellow wire going to the same coil + terminal from the R terminal on the starter solenoid.

In an HEI system, there must be 12V going to the BAT terminal of the HEI, which cannot be from the resistor wire, and must be from somewhere else, as discussed already above.
In HEI in a 1970, it shouldn't matter whether the yellow wire from the solenoid is connected or not, but in an earlier car, it would, as the ignition switch in earlier cars does not power the IGN and START circuits at the same time.

- Eric