HEI Installation

Finally getting to my HEI installation. . I cranked the engine so the rotor would be facing a fixed point at the engine block. I marked the position of the rotor and vacuum canister with a white out marker. The HEI is obviously bigger and a bit longer. Does the rotor on the new HEI supposed to center up with the mark perfectly or is it OK with it being a bit off centered. It looks like its a bit to the left of the mark just barely touching the mark. When I pulled off the old unit and put in the HEI, that is the closest I've come even after a few lifting and and lowerings. Do I keep trying to get it perfect or is there something else I've got to do?


https://2img.net/h/i99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/rebeldbl/Mobile%20Uploads/2011-02-08_185031.jpg
This is the original unit with the rotor posion markings and vacuum canister markings

This is the new HEI with the rotor pointing slightly to the left of the mark. Barely touching the mark

are you sure the dist is seated on the block.

If the dist. is all the way down it looks like you should be able to turn the housing okay to get your timing right. If its still to far off for some reason there is another trick I think to help you out. This is also assuming the plug wire towers are in the same general location as the original points cap.

The distributor is all the way down. Once the distributor is being lowered the gears of the distributor start engaging and the rotor will start rotating to the left... until it stays fixed in position once it is down and fully engaged. So before engaging it down I would place the rotor slightly to the right to anticipate it automatically rotating left a little inorder to achieve the correct position. So far it hasn't been centered on the mark but slightly to the left and barely touching the mark. Will the rotor not being perfectly centered work, will that cause proplems or am I supposed to adjust more some other way to center it. That seems to be the closest the rotor on the HEI can be by lifting and lowering the whole unit. The actual housing is fully down and I hand tightened the hold down bolt where you could still move the housing.

Your mark is just a reference really if the 2 dist. are arranged the same way. If I was going at this cold from scratch. I would roll the engine over so it's coming up on compression on #1, then finish hand rolling to TDC on your timing marks, Here is where your rotor should be pointing at your #1 spark plug tower. Unplug the power to your HEI while you are doing this !! see where you are at there. I think you may be thinking you can just replace the distributor without readjusting the timing by using your mark on the engine?? Im not sure this will work , the HEI may be set up a bit different than the original. I think Rock mentioned this in VCVC ? I dont think you can hurt much if its not exactly on at first it might pop some is all. Once you have #1 lined up in the right place it should start then fine tune it from there. I think what you are running into is that the HEI rotor doesnt line up with the drive tang that fits in the oil pump the same as the original, it must be different bya few degrees is all. If your lucky you may just have to rotate the housing CCW that little bit to compensate for it ??

Whenever I would pull a distributor I always had the rotor pointing at number 1 on the cap then marked that location somewhere on the firewall or where ever possible. You may have to turn your crank so your at TDC and then install your distributor so the rotor is pointing at number 1 on the cap and then set your timing with a timing light. To get it to drop down all the way you may have to use a long screwdriver to turn the oil pump slightly. You can also turn the housing so the rotor is pointing at number 1 on the cap as long as the vacuum advance doesn't hit anything that would prevent you from setting the timing... Hope this makes sense...

I had gone back to the van a few hours ago and put back the old distributor so I could crank the engine to rotate the rotor more specifically to where spark plug one cylinder on the cap would be. With the cap on I referenced the mark on the engine where the #1 cylinder was. With the cap off I cranked the engine and made sure the rotor was at that mark. I placed the cap on the dist and made sure the rotor was underneath pointing at the #1cylinder. I did get to read on what Rock said and thats why I decided to put it on the 1. I was just trying to see different peoples experiences with the HEI install on both our sites. I re-positioned the HEI towards the 1 cylinder but again its not aligning on the mark but its pointing on that general direction. Would it work out the way I'm trying it now this second time and just adjust timing or do I have to set it at top dead center? I did try the long screwdriver trick trying to align the slit of the oil pump drive rod with the dist shaft so it can set at the mark but it always set a bit after the mark and a bit before the mark. Must be the HEI size difference.

I marked where the #1 cylinder on the cap is at the engine



Then I cranked the motor one small crank at a time with the cap off until the rotor rotated and aligned perfectly with the mark I set on the engine. I made sure it sat under the cap's #1 cylinder and that it really centered on the mark.




This is the HEI after it was seated and engaged.

remember = if using a new distributor= the gear is new and a tighter fit ( less clearances than the old one) therefore Their will be a difference when trying to match up the mark you made from the old Dist. Just do as all are saying here & fire it up -then set the timing .

I don`t mean to sound rude but you have the dist in correct, the
miss alignment that you have there will be taken up with the ignition
timming procedure, get out your timming light and set and you are
set to go. Job well done!!!!!!!

Pulled it up one last time to move the rotor a bit so it can lay right underneath a cylinder on the new cap that I wanted to make #1. It just cranked and cranked but eventually I got it started. I had a spark plug wire mixed up and the connection to the harness I just wiggled tighter. It started after several cranks. It almost sounded like the distributor vibrated itself into the proper place. hehe. I moved the housing some to get the right sound and feel of the engine then bolted it down tightly at that position. Took off a resistor wire and put in a new 12ga wire in place. I'm pretty happy so far. Can't wait to test drive it.

We all have done it , still do it and will keep doint it!!