New HEI distributor won't drop in?

[Murphy]

Pulled the old points style dist......marked the location of the rotor & vacuum can. of course. New dist. won't quite drop in, about 3/8" from seating correctly. Manual states to rotate the motor slightly, I have a TH350 not a manual trans so how do I slightly rotate the motor?

[monte70car]

Use a fly wheel wrench or you can try a stocket on the crank bolt to turn the motor over

[black07ss]

You can turn it using the bolt holding the harmonic balancer. It hasa 5/8 head.

[Sam (Bones)]

you can also use a large screwdriver to turn the oil pump shaft so the dizzy will drop all the way down

[bigtankjones]

Sam.

I was thinking that the oil pump shaft needed to be turned a bit also.

[footballubet]

Don't turn the engine over, turn the oil pump drive shaft with a long screwdriver.

[Murphy]

Screw driver worked just fine ...THANKS! But she won't start, noticed in the manual that points style vs hei the plug wires on the distributor are all shifted over one post, hei #1 is front towards plug #1, mu original setup has #1 actually towards plug #2, I shifted everything over just for the helluvit. Put timing light on #1 wire with no flashing??

[bobsmc]

you need to bring the engine to tdc of compression on #1 cyl and then remove the cap and check your rotor for proper alignment with the cap.the firing order is 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2.clockwise rotation.

also it sounds like you may not have 12 volts at the dist.during cranking.

the original wire going to the coil pos.terminal was a resistor wire.run 12 volts to the dist.and see if it will start.

good luck.

[Murphy]

I've connected to a 12v post off the fuse panel, actutally have 11.75v at distributor. Why is #1 on distributor different between Hei & points-style?

[Sam (Bones)]

it actually doesn't matter where you put #1, just go in the firing order from there

if you have it wired to an accessory 12v, it won't have power when cranking, it has to be wired to an ignition feed 12v

[Murphy]

Roger that, I am on 12v ignition. I've started to check resistance on each wire (questioning my crimps) and have found a couple that do NOT have a good reading. I'm redoing them or at least testing everything. I don't like the way these wires are constructed, one nick to the conductor and your done!

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance-Products/555/40206/10002/-1?parentProductId=

 

This is the set I got.

[Murphy]

She still won't start, no spark! I've ohmed all wires and of course each one is slightly different but they're between 900 to 1600 ohms as this set is 500ohm per ft wire. Definately have 12 volts at distributor when cranking.............

[Murphy]

How do I determine if the distributor is bad or the wires? Thought about using my original wires (non-hei style) and just spreading the male connector to fit onto the post of the hei distributor. Then I could eliminate the wires as the issue??? Any thoughts?

[Sam (Bones)]

I'd start with checking the pick up coil

[bobsmc]

just remove the wire and have an assistant crank the engine

you will see the spark arcing if you have it.

[Mikstudie]

I'd start with checking the pick up coil

 

also check,scratch check,just replace the module. Also check the wires leading to the module they tend to break...