HEI aggravation

I know this has been covered in length, but I can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for with the search function. I pulled my points distributor out this afternoon to install an hei. I thought it was a pretty straight forward procedure, but, I cant seem to get fire to a couple of the terminals in the distributor cap. I'm using the post to the right of the 12 volt power terminal on the coil for #1. It won't fire and #5 won't fire. Any advice would certainly be appreciated as I'm really getting frustrated. Thanks

 

Looks to be the pickup on the distributor shaft has three points on it and the cap has staggered posts as I've seen pictures of.

 

Bad wires or you could have it 180 degrees off.

 

The Rich Motts writeup said something about, if it runs on three cylinders the primary being out of phase and moving all the plug wires one poition to the right or left. I tried that and it wouldn't even start.

 

Brand new wires. Is 180 out when you set #1 tdc on the exhaust stroke? If so , I know for a fact I'm on compression.

 

reading the original post, the position of the dist matters not to the issue as I read it. OP said it's not firing at the terminal, not that the cylinders not firing.

If you took the distributor completely out of the engine and it was still grounded it should fire as you rotated it. It should fire on all 6 cylinders and not miss on #1&5.

I'd look real closely at the pick up coil inside and ensure isn't grounding out. I'd find out why #1&5 aren't firing. It's got nothing to do with the distributors position.

 

I pulled the distributor back out. The points inside the pickup look to be evenly spaced. Could that be my issue?

 

Both seem to be even, pickup coil and points on the shaft. It's just hard for me to believe this could be an evenfire distributor. the thing came with an old cap and it was an oddfire cap.

 

You might find this helpful. http://www.earlycj5.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/HEI-Even-To-Odd-Instructions.pdf

 

Yup, use the above to ID for sure which one you're dealing with.

 

Guess I've got the right one. Must be something else going on.

 

I looked at which tower I'm using for #1, looks to be the same as stated above. It want to backfire out of the exhaust a little on the even bank. It acts like the firing order is off, but I've checked and rechecked my plug wires. Probably something simple. You know how these things are, sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees.

 

So is it firing on all 6 terminals or is it missing on cylinders 1&5?

 

Still missing on one and five. I just talked to a friend of mine. And to add to the story, I bought this distributor from an individual and it was shipped US mail. When I got it, the box had been dropped. Cap and rotor were broken. Got a new rotor and oddfire cap. I did notice that on a couple of points between the pickup and shaft, that they seem to be touching. So I'm wondering now if the shaft may have gotten bent when the box was dropped. Any ideas?

 

There may be enough slop in the screw hold-down holes (thinking three) that you can loosen slightly and adjust the gap to equalize the distance between the three points. It would take a very hard hit to bend the upper shaft on that dist. Be sure to clean off any small metal fuzzies that may be clinging to the magnetic fingers.

 

I'll try that this afternoon. But I think it must've taken a pretty food lick because one of the tabs the rotor bolts to was bent a little.