Technical Y-block ignition issues

Hey everyone. I was helping a buddy of mine on his '57 Fairlane today and we ran into a few issues I'm hoping you all can help with.

Car has a 292 in it and the original distributor took a dump on him. He bought a knock off HEI billet distributor with coil and wires. Hooked it all up and no spark. 12v to the coil, 12v to the leads in the distributor. Coil shows about 6000ohms. 10v(ish) when cranking the engine. There was a ceramic resistor for the negative lead on the original coil which we byp***ed thinking the voltage was getting reduced (insulated in spite of what the pic suggests). We're stumped. The only thing I can think is other than a faulty pickup on the distributor is that the coil isn't HEI rated. Its not marked in any way so I don't know how to test it. Here's a few pics of where we're at.



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Hold the phone! Or I'm missing something.
1) stock distributor "took a dump"...couldn't it be fixed, points & condenser?
2) you show HEI distributor and points coil...instructions clearly state must use HEI coil!?!?!

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Why not use a rebuilt distributor?
I got mine from rock auto


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I agree. BUT, "Caveat Emptor".

Y Block distributor cores have apparently dried up (again.) I don't know exactly what the rebuilders are using as cores these days for their rebuilds but, they won't work, the dimensions from the gear to the mounting flange are way off. Big discussion over at Y-blocksforever.com a while back.

 

and dont buy the chinese y-block distributor

 

Looking at the picture ground or bolt the coil down

 

Coils rarely go bad but the Pertronix coil on my 292 quit working. It was only 16 years old...Git yer y-block distributor out of the trash can and fix it. Problem solved

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I thought the same thing about the coil but my buddy said it was advertised to work on both FWIW.

The stock distributor is on a shelf. When you hold the rotor and gear in each hand and rotate it, it just moves position and stays there. I'm ***uming the advance return springs or weights are the issue but we didn't delve into it at all.

I'll have him go back and find the info for the coil and see if he can get specs for it.

Thanks as usual everyone, NAES

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I think the HEI coil will solve the problem.

 

I would take it apart and soak it in carb cleaner or wash tank...see what's wrong.


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