I recently put a buick 72 Buick 350/4 in my Cutlass and now im having a problem with wiring a points system on an hei wiring harness. According to a wiring diagram i got offline there is a group of wires on the driver side that is for the charging/ignition system. The wiring diagram I got from an old buick manual and the wiring diagram i got online for the most part jive, but as far as the ignition coil I have a problem. On my old V6 there was one purple wire that went to the starter and one pink wire that went to the ig. coil. Also, the starter has three posts and my old starter had only 2 posts. Now what im thinking is the purple wire goes to the coil and a wire goes from the coil to the starter. Either that, or the purple wire goes on one post and the pink wire that went to the old hei distributor goes to the coil and from the coil to the other post on the starter. If anyone has done this swap before I would greatly appreciate any incite.
"alphamale": Please put your name in your signature, we're all here on a friendly first name base :TU: 1 What model year Cutlass are we talking about here ? First thing that comes to mind is that you need a resistor wire for the points ignition.
Not trying to be smart but why don't you use a hei distributor which will make things easier as the hei is pretty much maintenance free. Also, if I remember correctly (I have done this swap twice) the large purple wire goes through the neutral safety switch to the starter.
The reason you are having problems is that points systems require a ballast resistor to drop voltage for longer point life, and HEI's use full battery voltage all the time. This is how a points system works. The power wire leading from firewall to the coil + incorporates a calibrated length of special resistance wire. That wire is joined by a wire that comes from the starter solenoid. A starter solenoid from a points car will have two small posts in addition to the main lug for the + battery cable and main power leads. One terminal will be labeled "S", the other will be labeled "R". The "S" terminal gets 12 volts from the ignition switch, and engages the starter motor. While the engine is cranking, and only when the engine is cranking, the "R" terminal supplies full battery voltage to the + side of the coil. This bypasses the resistance wire for improved starting. Once you let go of the ignition switch, and the switch springs back into the run position, the voltage is supplied from the firewall and resistance wire for improved point life. If you want to use points, buy a 1.8 ohm ballast resistor and wire it inline in your HEI (pink) power wire. Attach the other end to the + side of the points coil. Use a points era starter and attach a wire from the "R" terminal. Tee that wire into your firewall to coil wire (pink) between the ballast resistor and the coil. Then the system will work as it should. Either that, or use an HEI Distributor from a 75-79 Buick engine. The 350 and 455 distributor bodies will be the same. The difference will be the distributor gears which can be changed. The 350 uses a 14 tooth gear, the 455 uses a13 tooth gear. You can use a 455 distributor by changing the gear. There will be some differences in mechanical advance between 350 and 455 distributors of different years. Your purple wire will go to the starter solenoid. On the HEI starter, it goes to the smaller lug. On a points starter, it goes to the "S" terminal. Your pink wire will go to the HEI battery connection, or modify it as above to use with points.
Thank you so much for the help. I did get a ballast resistor from napa and I got it wired last night. I only have a few more things to do before I can get her running. Again, thank you for the advice and the reason I havent gotten HEI is there are not a lot of good junk yards by where I live and I am running out of time and money to get this thing going before I deploy. Thanks, Bud Brown
