Good test vangremlin, to see if the old parts work. That would make sure the rest of the car is sound. I am more than 1,000 miles away but I will try to help as well. There are some quick things to check.
1. You said it it will blink a timing light. You can check timing while cranking; if you put the clamp on #1 cylinder, it should be on the timing marks even at cranking speeds. If it's way off, you may be off a tooth or two on the gear. If you're many teeth off, it can either backfire and sputter while cranking or wheel over like it has no spark. Even if it's right on, it could be so far off it's firing on exhaust instead of compression. The rotor would need to be rotated 180 degrees in that scenario.
2. Open the choke and move the throttle to wide open while looking down the carb with a light. You should see the accelerator pump squirt a jet of gas into the bore. If not, your carb and fuel lines could be dry. I don't know how long the job took, but both my Eagles take forever to get fuel back to the carb after sitting more than a few weeks. If there's no fuel, a quick shot of starting fluid should light it up long enough to confirm it will run. Use caution and do not attempt if it backfires or doesn't sound good while cranking.
3. Make double sure the firing order is good. Also make sure that rotor can't be installed backwards. Always gotta double check the basic things when you put new parts in and they seem not to work. With engine turned to TDC on compression the rotor should be pointing near the #1 wire on the cap. Also what's your key-on power wire situation? If the red/green resistance wire for the stock coil is anywhere in your power wire, it may mess with your new setup.
4. Check for actual spark. I use a $10 spark tester, get the one with a real gap instead of the test light style with a bulb. Though I know that depending on where you live in CO, you can't just run down to the parts store quick. So you can put any old spark plug on the end of one of the wires and lay it near the shock tower or somewhere else metal where it won't fall while cranking. Crank while you watch and listen for spark. If you used a plug out of your engine, watch for compressed fuel spray. It should easily jump the plug gap and the gap from the plug to the car and make a crisp little snap. HEIs can usually jump an inch gap with no problem.
If none of that reveals a problem, there's lots more we can check. I'm just in it for the reward beers.
Topic: Switched 12V for HEI (Read 4249 times)