HEI Help

I just got done putting a junkyard odd-fire HEI out of a '77 231 in my '66 225. Everything went somewhat well. My issue is that the idle is rough. Everything above an idle is fine; there's no pinging at all when I get on it (vacuum advance is disconnected as well), plugs are new AC's gapped at .045, and it has 8 mm Taylor wires. The timing is set right on 5 degrees. I've moved it over a tooth one way and then the other with no improvement. I've also thought it might be 180 out so I swapped the wires around 180 degrees (this is the correct way, right?) and it backfired through the exhaust. Also it does seem to sputter a little more now on the passenger side than with the old Delco points distributor. The idle seemed fine with the old distributor so I'm kind of skeptical that it's the carb, but who knows. Am I missing something obvious?

Sorry about the repeat subject. I've searched, but I couldn't quite find anything like this (I am a little slow though).

 

I'm going to play dumb bunny today and ask 'What is the difference between Odd-Fire and Even-Fire?":?

Cam? :?

 

1977 was from what I read the change over, from what I understand it was a mid to late year change over with 78 starting with all even fire. I think a person needs to look at there block & head nubers cloely.

 

In addition to double-checking the pickup and switching the tooth one position, have you tried just switching the wires over one position, same order?

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, this distributor is actually an odd-fire unit. I almost couldn't believe that I actually found one. I was intending on buying an junkyard even-fire unit and converting it over. Anyway, before installing it, I put in a new cap, coil, rotor, module, and the capacitor and harness (old one was broken). I didn't touch the pickup or anything else. The housing itself look like it was fairly clean and lead me to believe that this might be a reman distributor.

 

Hi Clint,

I tried to swap the wires over one way, and then the other, but those results weren't very good either.

 

Thanks Sparky. I'll see if I can pick one up tomorrow.

I just tried to swap the wires over one way and then back the other way one post just to see if I remember right. Either way it just cranks over; won't fire.

 

Just to cover the basics, I'm sure you plugged the vac port, yes?

 

The vacuum hose is plugged off with a golf tee. I was able to get a new pick-up coil today, but I found another little surprise when I pulled the shaft out of the distributor. The bushing/sleeve toward the top of the shaft had pieces broken off of the bottom of it. The shaft spun fine when it was in the distributor, but I'm thinking I might have to go dig for another shaft at the junkyard tomorrow. Also, isn't there supposed to be a c-clip or washer that retains the pick-up coil? If so, this one didn't have one. What do you guys think about this shaft? Sorry for the not-so-clear pictures.

 

not trying to steal your thread but im having the same problem with mine..
could be my carb because it didn't run that great with the old distributor in it..
i installed an HEI from a 76 Buick Rivera,
replaced everything in it including the pickup,
i thought maybe i was 180 off so i pulled it and spun it 180 but when i tryed it,
it sounded like a canon going off on the pass side exaust..(scared the poop out of me)

so i put it back to the normal location..
it will run but not idle vary well and pops a little on the passenger side exhaust.

 

This bushing/sleeve that is on the shaft, it's supposed to be pressed in the housing, correct? Should I just to to the junkyard and try to grab another complete distributor? Thanks guys.