Let the smoke out of wire from SBC distributor

[JB740i]

Drove the cruiser 20 miles to the new house we just built and stopped in the drive way. When I went to crank it to drive it back to the new 24x30 shop in the backyard it wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery so I but the charger on it for a while and it still wouldn't start.

I went to the backyard looking for jumper cables and the dang thing was smoking!

Turned out to be a wire running from the distributor to under the dash.

I haven't found where it was headed under the dash yet. Any ideas?

 

[BrianSanDiego]

HEI distributor? (the one with coil mounted in the top of the distributor cap)

Stock, you should have a black and yellow wire running running from the ignition switch to the fuse block, then from the fuse block to the ignition coil. Or, with HEI, from the fuse block to the distributor instead of a coil.

With HEI, you might also have a wire running from the distributor to a tach, if you have one.

B.

 

[70FRANKENCRUISER]

Not an electrical guy but mine runs to a ballast resistor first. Not sure if that would keep the wire from cooking but thought I would throw it out. Mine is not an HEI.

 

[JB740i]

I thought I was gonna use the new shop space to get a couple things fixed up and drive it more frequently.

After the wire though, I'm tempted to start tearing into stuff, rewiring it, doing some minor painting and upgrades.

I'm just afraid I'll spend days/hours/months taking it apart and get to a point where I'll just want to put it back together so I can drive it.

I've owned it a little more than a year and after replacing most parts of it --brake booster, master cylinder, clutch master and slave, brake lines, radiator, front and rear brake job, etc...-- I'm not sure how much I can get done by taking whatever I can unbolt apart to check it out...


Ahh, forget it. It's coming apart.

 

[JB740i]

looks like that one?

 

[BrianSanDiego]

Not an electrical guy but mine runs to a ballast resistor first. Not sure if that would keep the wire from cooking but thought I would throw it out. Mine is not an HEI.

Ah yes, I was going off the FSM, and that apparently doesn't show all the components. Thanks for the correction.
B.

Yea, thats an HEI distributor. Where the wires go into the cap there should be small lettering for bat and tach. See which wire it was that smoked.

 

[JB740i]

Ah yes, I was going off the FSM, and that apparently doesn't show all the components. Thanks for the correction.
B.

Yea, thats an HEI distributor. Where the wires go into the cap there should be small lettering for bat and tach. See which wire it was that smoked.

Thanks. You've gotten me pointed in the right direction.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=268930&stc=1&d=1224884595

From this picture I imagine it was going to the engine fuse. Dunno why the fuse didn't blow...

 

[BrianSanDiego]

Yep, fuse shoulda popped for sure. Make sure that wire goes back to the fuse block. Also, pop the cap off the coil, and check that the wires going to the coil are in good shape. One might of chaffed and grounded out, creating a short, thus letting the smoke out of your ignition wire.
B.

 

[1911]

When you replace the smoke, make sure and use genuine Lucas smoke. It's much more dense and smelly than Toyota smoke, which is barely noticeable at all.

 

[Bret]

I need to make a jar like that for work! that's some funny $hit

 

[BrianSanDiego]

When you replace the smoke, make sure and use genuine Lucas smoke. It's much more dense and smelly than Toyota smoke, which is barely noticeable at all.

LOL, thats friggin funny!