rusty65

Hey all,

Looking to get my mustang street worthy here in the next few days, but im having problems with the HEI distributor I installed when rebuilding the engine. My problem is finding a suitable 12v power source for the GM style HEI distributor I bought from Summit (summit brand, heard good things for the money) with only the BATT and TACH terminals. I got my tach all squared away, but even after perusing the countless posts on the site detailing the treasonous use of these dizzys I am still confused about where to get my 12 volts.

I know that the old coil wire is a resistor wire and the most common/popular method is to replace that with a regular wire then just hook it up. Unfortunately, when I trace my coil resistor wire back I run into a 6 prong plug (looks like a six pack). So, does the resistor wire continue on through that connection to the ACC power threaded fitting on the back of the ignition switch? And if so, could i just remove the old connection on the back of the ignition switch and run all new wire directly to the dizzy? Because I am unclear how to "bypass" the original coil resistor wire to get the full 12v I need to the dizzy.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Gotta get this baby going so I can take it back with me to college on friday!

rusty65

Or what about coming off the stator post on the alternator? Its where I have my electric choke connected, and as I understand it thats supposed to get power while the key is turned to the on / cranking positions....

jlg2002

Rusty that's a bad place for 12 V and will potentially damage the alternator. (that terminal was originally only intended to power a coil in the Vreg)

If you want to keep all the wiring on the engine bay side - install a relay that switches 12 V directly from the battery terminal on the starter relay. You can use the wiring on the voltage regulator to supply the relay coil voltage when the key is on or you can use the pink/red-green wire to the coil to energize the new relay coil. Or you can bypass the pink wire altogether an run a new wire from the switch to the firewall plug.

there are several posts on the internet with wiring diagrams ( try summit or pertronix)

goldrush031619

Rusty,
I'm working with my resistor wire also. I can tell you on my '69, the wire goes from the ignition switch to a wire loom at the fire wall. Then continues into the engine bay and goes right to the coil. I'm taking out that wire and going with a electronic ignition with a flamethrower coil that has the resistance built in. But yes I believe you need to go through that wire loom on both sides if your just replacing that wire.

rusty65

ok, I think I am going to just run a new relay setup like youve suggested. I did something similar for my electric fuel pump though, so would running both of these off my ignition switch give me trouble? Heres the diagram I was given to set up my fuel pump, and it worked great once I got a good ground connection.

http://chris66dad.tripod.com/id42.html

could I pretty much just do the exact same thing for my dizzy?

edit: ok, thanks goldrush. If the relay I have in mind wont work for me, Ill probably just end up just capping off the resistance wire and running a whole new one directly from the ignition switch.

groho

Reach under your dash, just behind your ignition switch. You'll see a red/green wire that changes to a pink wire at a bullet connector. That should be the resistor wire for your coil. Run a new wire using the connector to your HEI, bypassing the pink wire. The pink wire is the resister wire dropping the 12V to 6-9V for the coil.