Forgot to mention you do NOT need the ballast resistor with an HEI. Wire the distributor straight to your ignition supply. You may also have a wire that goes from your starter to the points distributor. This wire isn't needed with the HEI. It was used to provide 12v directly to the points distributor during cranking for some added spark intensity. The ballast resistor drops the voltage to the distributor to 8 or 9 volts I think, probably to preserve point life.
