Can you help me fill in the blanks? (1 Viewer)

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I'm converting from HEI back to the original points style distributor and I don't understand how to wire it all up. Before I think there was just a wire from the battery to the starter and then another wire from somewhere (starter or fuse box? not sure, just comes out of the wire harness) to the distributor. I got some 12-gauge red and black wire, new connectors, but have no experience in anything like this. Honestly, most of the diagrams I find online confuse me even more. Can anyone fill in the red/black lines for me in the diagram I made below? Thanks to everyone in advance

1599415249743.png
 
Would I just put the ballast resistor in series before the coil then? Does this look right:

1599420097222.png
 
I just did this yesterday, though to my FJ45 w/a 327. The diagram above is correct but just make sure your coil needs the external ballast resistor. If it does the coil usually says it does on it. The wire that went to the HEI should be coming from the ignition switch and supplies the 12+ volts.

And make sure the starter wire is the correct one. It should only have 12 volts while cranking and 0 volts when the engine is running.
 
Yes, thats correct, the wire from the starter is only to bypass the resistor when starting (only time that wire gets full 12v is when cranking) so you may not need that, dont forget you will need a condensor attached to the - wire to the distributor.
 
I just did this yesterday, though to my FJ45 w/a 327. The diagram above is correct but just make sure your coil needs the external ballast resistor. If it does the coil usually says it does on it. The wire that went to the HEI should be coming from the ignition switch and supplies the 12+ volts.

And make sure the starter wire is the correct one. It should only have 12 volts while cranking and 0 volts when the engine is running.
Good point, you may or may not need that resistor depending on coil.
 
Looks like my coil does need the external resistor. I definitely don't have a condenser, I'm glad y'all mentioned that too. Thanks!
 
From ignition switch Black wire with white tracer goes to starter trigger, Black with Yellow tracer goes to + side of coli (or ballast depending on setup). The way you have laid out the wires in your illustration will NOT work and burn up the coil too.
 
@4Cruisers I'm sure you told me that before and I forgot haha -thanks as always.

Alright so here is my final product before I saw your post @Dynosoar. It did start and run for a few minutes but i think my timing is still a bit off. I'm not sure if I should move onto that though if there's a risk of burning up the coil.

It looks like I have 1 black w/ white and 1 black w/ yellow combining into the white wire that goes into the Ballast resistor then to coil then to distributor. I also have a 1 black w/ white and 1 black w/ yellow going to the starter (haven't touched this since taking the HEI distributor off).

1599502236748.png



1599502849631.png
 
I was reading some older posts and saw that the black+yellow has been used as a resistor bypass wire. I'm thinking of cutting the wires before they got connected to the all white wire that was certainly done by the PO, then connecting the black+white end to the ballast resistor and the black+yellow to the + end of ignition coil. Not sure if I should touch the extra black+yellow going to the starter
 
I did some experimenting after I separated the wire into the black w/ white and black w/ yellow.

Scenario 1: White to ballast, Yellow to coil - good start, keeps running after turning ignition off
Scenario 2: White and Yellow both to coil - great start, keeps running after turning ignition off
Scenario 3: White not connected, yellow to coil - rough start, but stops running as it should
Scenario 4: White not connected, yellow to ballast - really rough start, but stops running as it should

So I take it the white always gets current while yellow is only during cranking. It still feels like I'm missing something, why can't I get a good start and have it stop running when I remove the keys?
 

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