Have a 68 that is being redone. There are two wires that used to be to the coil. One is yellow and runs to the solenoid from the coil. and the other is a white braided with purple specs. I just smoked the white one. It used to run from the coil to the bulkhead connection. Have not traced it from there. No fuses were blown. I just smoked it with the key on.

Any idea what that one was??? I had the 12 gauge purple wire and the 18 guage yellow wire off the solenoid at the time and might have grounded it (not sure).....still wouldn't have smoked it right??

I was in the middle of trouble shooting wiring issues and had the key in the "start" position. The guy that was doing my car put in a mallory HEI and just jammed the yellow wire & the nylon coated white wire that was connected to the coil onto the mallory HEI hot wire. I am not sure what roasted the wire.

I have a couple of other questions after that one is answered.

 

were they 2 different hot wires?

 

The wire from the solenoud provides full 12 Volt to the ignition during cranking. The other wire is from the ignition switch, goes through a ballast resistor and provides 8 Volt to the ignition during run. The voltage is dropped to 8 Volts to prevent the points from burning out. If you upgraded to an HEI, the ballast resistor may have to be bypassed, and the wire from the solenoid is not used. Check the instructions from Mallory

Apparently your mechanic connected the the ignition switch directly to the solenoid via the white & yellow wires which were strapped toghether at the HEI, and tried to start the engine. The white wire is too small to carry all this current. Your ignition switch may be fried also.

The 12 gauge purple wire is used to bring up the solenoid for cranking. The 18 gauge yellow wie provides 12 Volt to ignition during cranking only, Being that the yellow an white wires were strapped toghether , groundin the yellow wire would also ground the white wire, and if the ballast resistor was bypassed, the wire would overheat.

 

There seems to be only on wire from the fuse connection from the bulkhead. That one (the white insulated wire) is the one that fried.

Do I have to remove and replace the "white" wire with a 18 gauge assuming nothing else has been damaged?

Second question concerning the yellow coil wire. This wire runs from the old coil to the solenoid.
Where will I get power from for the HEI ? Wouldn't it be necessary to replace the old white fried wire and the yellow wire that used to run from the coil to the solenoid ??

That way the engine will actually be able to be "shut off" through the ignition switch...right??

 

If the white wire gets power when the ignition switch is turned on, it should be replaced and connected to the HEI. The wire from the solenoid to the coil is no longer needed. However; make sure that when the switch is on the start position the white wire still shows 12 volts. Get a voltmeter or a test light and check them out.

 

Thanks Pete,

So when done, the heavy gauge purple wire will engage the starter off the solenoid, and the former white wire provide power to the HEI........right?

That really helped me out and I really appreciate your time to respone to my cry for help.

I will have another question regarding the alternator connection for you later........


Thanks,
Jon

 

Yes. But just test them with a test light or voltmeter to make sure.