Dig this, I was adjusting my timing yesterday when the HEI Distributor zaps me. Tried again, same thing. Shut the car off and verified all the plug wires were on and tight. Took off the top and mades sure that little grounding bracket was in there, it was. Even took the wire wheel to the screw that it grounds to to make sure the connection was good. Verified the 12V wire going into the distrib was tight, good there too. Started it back up again and it was ok for a few moments then went back to zapping me. Brand new distrib and accel 8.8 wires. Anyone have any ideas...im fresh out.

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79 Berlinetta
"Beware of loud cars in primer"

What were you doing when you got hit?

Any hairline cracks in the distributor cap? Do you see any arcing at night or no light on?
Maybe some dielectric grease would help on the inside of the boots?

when i turn my distributor, i always push or pull on the vacuum advance so I dont get shocked

I was adjusting the timing when i got hit. No cracks that i see. I'll try turning off the lights tonight when i get home to check for arcs. And i'll also get some grease. We'll go from there.

Last time I had that problem I found that one of my (new) plug wires had a defect- one of the small carbon-impregnated conductive strands was sticking out between the boot/wire insulation seam. Apparently, when the machine did the wire clip/install/crimp/seal operation on the wire end it missed or pulled one of these small conductive strands with it from the inside of the wire to the outside. The engine ran beautifully despite this problem but it was a nice little wake-up call when you grabbed the distributor to make a timing adjustment!

I've also seen coils do this sometimes for reasons I could never explain. Again, a coil change fixed it.

Last, check the little conductor/donut gasket that is sandwiched between the coil and the cap. Take out the coil. Under it you will see a little conductor with a spring on top. The "donut" gasket will sit over top of it and around it. It must be assembled in the proper order or problems can occur. From bottom to to it goes: cap, conductor (with spring pointing up), donut gasket (coated with a thin film of dielectric grease on both sides) and lastly the coil.

To troubleshoot that type problem I have a wire with two alligator clips on each end. Attach one end to a good ground on the chassis and the other attached to a long screwdriver blade. While the engine is running and preferably with the lights out or near dark, run the screwdriver close to the area where I think the spark is jumping. The spark will jump to the screwdriver and I can tell for sure what the problem is. Give me a call, we can hook up this weekend. RH

[This message has been edited by rogerh (edited March 31, 2005).]

Sweet, sounds like a plan. I just have to get new header gaskets...you'll see. I also switched to a performer rpm manifold, it smoothed things out quite a bit.