i was having problems starting my car i was told that i need to run 12 volts to the ignition. when i hooked a wire from the battery to the distributor she fires right up. but will stay running if i dont remove the wire. i thought i could hook up a toggle switch to give it on and off power. i hooked a switch to the distributor and and called myself grounding it to a bolt hooked to the bottom of the steering colum when i turned it to the on position it instantly melted the wires and produced heavy smoke through my dash. i was thinking the wires that i was using on the pre-wired switch were not good enough but i dont i just guessing. could somebody tell me the proper way to hook an ignition switch up so i can have a 12 volt charge at the flip of a switch with out melting wires. maybe i should have grounded to the battery? thanks for any help

You connected the hot wire to a ground?

Do you have a points type distributor?

IF you wanted to use a toggle switch you could run a hot wire to one side of the switch and run a wire from the other sdie of the switch to the coil + terminal on points type or to the BAT terminal on an HEI.
But then anyone could start the car without a key.

no i have a hei distibutor. i ran a hot wire form the battery to the distributor to a toggle switch and ran the other line to what i thought was a ground. i unbolted a bolt on the bottom of the steering coloum and hooked the ground there and tighten it up since it was all metal...

no i have a hei distibutor. i ran a hot wire form the battery to the distributor to a toggle switch and ran the other line to what i thought was a ground. i unbolted a bolt on the bottom of the steering coloum and hooked the ground there and tighten it up since it was all metal...

So you did connect a hot wire to a ground then and created a DEAD SHORT.
You should always use a fuse close to the power source when hooking up anything.

Where was the BAT terminal on the HEI getting power from before?

Probably what you need to do is run a wire from the IGN terminal on the fuse block to the BAT terminal on the HEI.

No ground needed, the distributor gets it's ground from the case being bolted to the engine block.

what you need to do is run a wire from the IGN terminal on the fuse block to the BAT terminal on the HEI.

No ground needed, the distributor gets it's ground from the case being bolted to the engine block.

This is the correct way to do it. Key on= 12volts to dist., Key off= 0volts and motor shuts off

You don't say what kind of a car it is, so I can only assume. If this was not an original HEI car/engine and you just disconnected the coil wire and attached it to the HEI terminal that you are running thru a resistor wire (16 ga.) which is not giving you a full 12 volts to the HEI coil. Go inside the car to the base of the column where you find a comb of wiring coming out of the column. Look for a big fat (could be pink) wire about 12 ga coming out of the comb of wires. Take a test lite and put the ground clamp to a good stable ground and then pierce the fat wire's insulation, reach up and turn your ignition key to the "ON" position, (this is where the dash lites come on) see if your test lite will lite! If it does, then turn your key to the detent or start position, car's starter will engage, test light will still remain on. If this test works like the above, then you have found the CORRECT 12 volt source wire. Splice into this wire and run it thru the firewall to the "DIST" connection on your HEI distributor. Your HEI will now have a full 12 volts of power and will be key switchable everytime you start your car. Don't forget to disconnect and terminate your old wire that you had running to the distributor.

.....coming out of the column....


The ignition primary wire won't be coming out of the column.

READ.....a comb of wiring coming out of the column!!!!

READ.....a comb of wiring coming out of the column!!!!

OK, I don't know what the "comb" is but the ignition primary wire still won't be coming out of the column.
Only thing in the column is the turn signals, horn and key minder wires.

The IGN terminal on the fuse block will work.

Assuming he is talking about a Chevelle.

You connected a power straight wire to ground,,,that will cause a power to ground short and melt stuff for sure.
You want to run the power wire thru the toggle switch from the battery then to the distributor. Also a fuse wouldbe nice.

As long as the IGN terminal has 12V then that's going to save you trouble wiring right there, just plug in there and route to your HEI. If iit's dark, you'll have to look elsewhere (or find the trouble). If it's less than 12V, use it to trigger a relay (rather than toggle switch), same results without having to think about it.

OK, ............and key minder wires.



Assuming he is talking about a Chevelle.

DEAN, what the hell are Key minder wires?

DEAN, what the hell are Key minder wires?

Thak damn DING, DING, DING

DEAN, what the hell are Key minder wires?

The buzzer built into the horn relay which is turned on by the driver's side door jam switch if the key is in the ignition when the door is opened.