Other than taping into the ignition wire what other options can I use to tie in my 12 awg power wire ?

 

You can run the wire to the IGN spade terminal in the fuse block. Cap and stow the original distributor power wires.

 

there is no ign spade on the 66 I wish there was lol

 

Orange wire with connector near the wiper motor on the firewall. It is switched 12v.

 

the power wire to trans ?

 

Yep

 

awesome thanks … last thing I wanted was to tap into the ign harness lol

 

Go to the fuse box. There is usually an extra slot for an ignition controlled wire. Use your test light.

 

Why? That's the easiest thing to do. Just replace the resistor wire with copper and you're done.

 

That wire is cut off if it's a stick car.

 

So I went ahead and tied into the pink ign wire from the back of ignition . 12awg wire is hot at 12v with key on .
soon as it cranks voltage drops to 8 so not getting enough for spark

 

From Post #9:

 

I read your post earlier Joe are you talking the resistor wire than ran to the coil ?

 

Like I said I am no electrical genius by any means

 

The resistor wire is why the voltage is only 8 volts in RUN. There are two wires running to the coil, a copper one that provides 12v when the key is in START and a resistor wire that provides 8-9v when the key is in RUN. You need to connect both of them to the BATT terminal on the HEI, but you first need to replace the resistor wire with copper to get the full 12v in RUN.

 

so even though I ran a fresh 12 awg from the ign wire I still need covert the existing resistor wire ?

 

I can't tell from those photos where you ran that wire from, but if you are only getting 8 volts, there's something wrong.

 

I soldered the 12awg into the pink ignition wire just before the ignition plug

 

Might seem like a dumb question but can the car crank with a faulty ignition switch ?

 

At the ignition switch? That's the wire that feeds the resistor wire. By leaving the resistor wire in place, you may have an unintended loop that keeps the resistor in the circuit. Are the old coil wires connected to anything? Unless you care about not cutting the original harness, you should separate the pink and black/yellow wires at that horseshoe connector and insulate both of them.

 

I can't remember if there are two wires going to the Started solenoid. If there are, one provides 12 volts to the coil on start only. If not, the 8v wire from the ignition is the coil wire. Do you have a resister on that car? There must be an 12v ignition spade on the fuse block. Or tie into a ign wire coming out of the fuse block. just carefully scrape the insulation away and wrap a wire around it. Those blue conectors don't work well.

 

The black/yellow wire is the resistor bypass wire and goes to the R terminal of the starter. The pink wire is the resistor wire that is fed by the pink IGN wire at the bulkhead connector.

 

Yea just behind the plug
Joe not to sure what you mean by horseshoe where the wires join together for the coil ? If so it bumps volts to 9 1/2 when I cut the end off
Or do you mean by the horn relay ? Or by the body connector at the firewall

 

 

I did cut the horseshoe off but still only 9.5 on crank

 

Use the Power window or antenna terminal at the bottom of the fuse block.

 

Well, I have no idea how that is possible. Just so I'm clear, that wire reads 12.5 V or so with the key in the START position and 8-9 V in the RUN position?

 

I will take a quick video here in a bit

 

Video was to big to load so a couple of pictures

Cranking

Key on

appreciate the help on this Joe … I’m stumped

 

So I went through the whole fuse panel …
anything key power reads of 12 v
but not one single thing on the car will read over 9.7 🤷🏻‍♂️ On crank

 

I believe those lose 12V when cranking.

 

What does the battery voltage show when cranking (at the battery terminals)? Do the headlights dim when cranking if they are on?

 

Volts read 11.5 cranking .
can’t tell with the headlights since I’m by myself and in daylight

 

I used the resister wire that goes to the stock coil to trigger a relay and ran the relay power wire from the distribution point on the inner fender. Somewhat convoluted but can be readily changed back to stock configuration since no permanent changes is made to the harness. The relay control wire does not have to be 12V. Power for the relay is coming directly from the battery so minimal voltage drop.

 

thanks for the heads up but it seems I’m not getting voltage though out the whole car above 9.5 cranking

 

That's a completely different problem. ASSUMING your battery is good, go clean every connection. Pay attention to the wires on the stud at the horn relay. I've had a problem there in the past.

 

thanks Joe going to go through all the cables and grounds ..
hopefully an easy fix cleaning everything

 

Cleaned all power wires cables battery grounds and straps .. still no difference ..
there is a power wire from body harness to the horn relaywith a factory looking fusible link could that be the problem ?