Hi guys I justed picked up an old Allen distributor machine last night. I want to use it to recurve distributors. I've heard there is a way to make an adapter to set up HEI's does anyone have any info?
I have an Allen machine that was converted so HEI will run, I didn't do it but I will see if I can figure out how it was done.
Not sure, but I think the tach output on the HEI may trigger the distributor machine. Although I remember when HEI first came out Sun had a special module you needed to get the HEI to trigger the machine.
I ordered a 20 buck kit to be able to run my off topic electronic distributors.. the kit.... a wiring diagram illustrating how to use the common 4 pin gm height module to trigger the neon bulb.. indeed..the tach output will make the bulb flash !
I built a sparkplug bar that holds 8 plugs and set the distributor or magneto up on my old Allen Synchrograph so all the plugs fire sequentially. I then just use one of my timing lights and set it up so 1 lead is at 0. I then check all 8 individually by moving the trigger from wire to wire, making sure that all cylinders fire at the correct spot. I know its not ***y, but it works and regarding a magneto, allows the current to go to ground properly. sorry I don't have a picture of the sparkplug bar. I thought it was still attached to the machine when this was taken.
I looked mine over, the wire for a points distributor goes to the coil mounted inside the machine which fires the flash bulb. This is machine I believe is from the late '50s if that matters. The three wire plug from the HEI has power, ground, and trigger. Red is 12 volts ( + ), black is the ground ( - ), and the center brown wire is the trigger or coil wire. Hook up ( + & - ) to the red and black, and the brown to the same wire as you would a points distributor. Thats how mine is and works really good. The power wires energize the module, and the module then send a signal to the coil in the cap via the brown wire. So with out the coil in the cap, the module is now firing the flash bulb in the machine.
Yeah I first played with an hei in 77 for a sportsman engine at Lebanon Valley. Used a truck unit that didn't have vacuum advance. We didn't run alternators, so discovered really quickly that low voltage and heis didn't work. The rules changed the next year and magnetos were allowed, so back to the mag from the modified engine
Guys thank you for getting back to me, my machine is the E-1415-HD which from the looks of it is a 50s model. I didn't know the HEI tach output pulsed the same way a points setup did. That's pretty cool I will try that too. I was hoping there was a way to go right from the magnetic pickup in a distributor to the machine rather than having to ***emble a complete distributor and have to put 12 volts to it. Do you have the same machine as me? Where do you get the 12v from? Are you using a separate battery or something? Where did you buy your kit? Lastly are you guys able to use points and HEI or are your machines HEI only now.
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