Here is where I am on my swap from J109's to HEI's. I started with just changing one ignitor (leading) and mounting the HEI on the strut tower. When I got everything wired in and cranked her up, there was no spark for the leading/HEI side, so I went to bench testing.

Last night I did a full ignition setup on the bench with a spare dist., coil, plug wire, plug and a 12v supply. When I tested a J109, the plug would just zap away while turning the gear on the dist. When I changed to the HEI, I had to really spin the gear to get any kind of a spark, even then it was marginal at best. What gives? Someone please let me know that they have gotten these things to work. I am wondering if I have a defective module. It is a GP Sorensen and they are now only $12.96pc w/ a lifetime warranty, so I am about to take this one back and try another.

 

maybe check your power and ground to the coil.

 

Paging Dr. 20B. Dr. 20b to the first gen forum...

 

Just got back with a new module, BINGO! Hooked it up in my test ckt and zap, zap it goes. First one was fried. Now to buy a couple more and finish my conversion.

 

let us know how it works out and pics

 

Take two rotors and call me in the morning.

 

So I mounted one hei (leading) inplace of a j109. When I started the car the lead timing is was about 90 degrees off. The trailing was not touched and still on the money. WTF! I thought I remember reading that some of the hei modules had a switch to change the timing, but this one is a cheapo w/o such a thing.

 

The G terminal is supposed to be the same on both types of modules. Try switching the wires.

 

I would test the HEI unit.
Wire it up and turn the car over with a your little brother holding the plug wires...
If he just screams you need to check the power souce, here just is not enough power.
If he scream and wets himself, then things are just right, and you need to look elsewhere for the problem.

 

What the hell are you talking about? You have your brother put his tongue on the plug and tell him it is just a 9volt battery test. Just make sure his arm is not touching the car, keeping him from taking the charge directly across his chest.

Back to the topic on hand. Power is not the issue, just at the point that it is delivered. Thanks for the bump.

 

You would be correct. I swapped over the G pin to the +/red side of the pickup coil on the dist. Got both modules mounted and the car running w/o any noticeable difference in performance. Now I need to know the trick on uploading pictures. I tried to post some but did not have any luck.