HEI1

This guide is for the installation of a second hand blue motor electronic ignition to a red motor Holden block. Pictured are all the parts you need for the basic job (excluding relay if you wish to use one for power supply). We have the electronic distributor, suitable coil (the standard coil is not suitable, these electronic ignition systems use a high energy coil) and plug leads. For this job I will not be using any new parts apart from the relay to show how easily and cheaply this job can be done. So far these parts were bought for $50 from RedSix at oldholden.com, the relay cost me another $10 from Autobarn. You will also need insulated wire if you are going to wire in a relay but that will be discussed later.

HEI2

Popping the distributor cover off we can see that the old distributor is a bit dirty inside; this is to be expected since the distributor was taken straight off a running motor. I like to give old parts a clean to make sure there will be no problems; this can be done with some petrol and a small brush or rag.

HEI3

Inside the cap it doesn’t look too bad but I like to give the terminals a very light rub with fine sandpaper to remove any loading they have gotten over the years.

HEI4

This is the cap after a light rub on the terminals; they look almost as good as the day of manufacture now. It’s not really necessary to do this but I like to have everything as clean and tidy as possible before it goes on the motor.

HEI5

Before doing any work on the car you must disconnect the battery to avoid any unwanted surprises while you’re trying to do the work, also, to avoid the possibility of flattening your battery by accident.

HEI6

Our next step is to remove the spark plug from cylinder one, we do this so that we can be sure the cylinder is at top dead center before removing the old distributor. Step one of removing the plug is removing the lead, pictured I have already removed the lead but when pulling the lead off be sure to grip it around the base (the yellow segment in the picture).