Im working on 66 with gauges.new harness in the engine compartment and under the dash, update to electrical are an HEI dist for which i ran a seperate hot source from the fuse box to dist. it will turn start using a remote stater button connected to the solinoid. But wont turn over with dash key, and will peg the amp meter.As well as will fire off with key turned off. Dash lights wont turn off now as well ( New issue) I can occasionally get it to turn over at the key . simullar to a bad soliniod or loss conection @ the battery. but have check both and they are fine. Ign switch(new) is grounded as well as rest of motor, chassis and seem fine. oh yea using E-Bay find dash (gauges) and old instrument cluster. ANY THOUGHTS Thanks Kilroy was here!!!!
Elektrikery How is the HEI's current being switched off and on ? . You mention a separate power feed......... Running HEI ignition off the pink wire means poor sparks and other problems as the HEI draws significantly more current than does the oil breaker points
The HEI works great its the IGN switch and dash thats giving me fits. It just wont start with the key
I think I would get rid of the fuse block to HEI wire. You can run the original pink ignition switch wire that went to the coil to a relay that has 12g wires from the battery (or bat sol terminal) through it to the HEI. I would think a 30 amp or at the most a 50 amp relay would be plenty. The fender mounted starter relay on a Ford can handle 850 cranking amps and is energized by a 16g wire---the same size as the pink wire was to the coil on yours. By having everything on original circuits it does away with any backfeed through the fuse block or auxillary switches. To check switch: switch off-only BAT terminal hot. Switch on ACC-bat. and acc. hot. Switch on ON-BAT,ACC, and IGN terminals hot. Switch in START position- the purple wire should be hot EVERYTIME the switch is moved to this position. If it is and the solenoid won't energize then there's a problem with the purple wire since you say the a remote push button works everytime. Not necessay for the switch to be grounded so popping it out and letting it hang makes it easier to work with. 9 out of 10 times when weird stuff is going on a bad ground is the culprit.
Found It It seems you need to run the starting system thru the horn relay. I hooked you the hot from the battery to the horn relay and whalaa problem solved
