The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Delco Distributor w/ Ignitor II arcing

Howdy all, I have a '71 Chevy K10 with a '67 283 in it that I just finished putting heads and an intake on. However, my spark is very weak, so I can't get it to start up, it sputters and tries to start, but just can't get going. Anyways, I was pulling my distributor out to verify my timing, with is just the stock Delco distributor with an Ignitor II module to replace the points. When I got the gear up out of the manifold, I accidentally bumped it against the intake, and much to my surprise a blue arc of electricity arced from the dist. to the intake. Needless to say, I was pretty sure that was not kosher. I checked the wiring on the Ignitor to make sure it wasn't worn through, and I couldn't find anything. Can this module go bad and short out or could something else in the distributor be causing this short? Thanks in advance.

did it start ok before you installed heads and intake

Did you forget to turn the ignition off before you removed the distributor? I've had students experience major crankcase explosions from yanking a distributor out of a flooded engine after forgetting to switch off before removing it.
Jerry

Thanks for the replies, fellas. Joker, it ran like a top before I put the heads and intake on, they were just from a smogger 305, so I replaced them w/ 1.94 valve double hump heads and a weiand dual-plane intake. Hotrod, the ignition switch was off, but the battery was still hooked up. I'm gonna check the wiring from the Ignitor II module again to make sure its not worn through; this one has me puzzled.

You have reduced your compression considerably with the camel hump heads. They're 64 CC's, and the heads you removed were probably 58 CC units. The 283 doesn't need 1.94" valves unless you're planning to spend a lot of time above 6,000 RPM. The low-end torque will just about go away with that setup, and a 283 has very little torque to begin with.

It sounds like there's a capacitor somewhere in the ignition system that's got an open bleeder resistor, and it's staying charged after the ignition switch is turned off. You'll probably need to get a warranty replacement on the ignitor, or use a regular GM HEI unit instead of trying to modify the original distributor.
Jerry

Thanks for the help Hotrod, it is much appreciated.

Here's a very handy chart I use to help in head selection. There's a couple of 57-58 CC 305 heads available that respond very well to porting and larger valves if you're planning to build a full-race engine. Otherwise, just do a good cleanup/deburr job on the stock head and stick with the original valve size.

http://www.fastnuf.com/Headguide.html

Jerry