The prior owner put in a HEI distributor. Will installing a kill switch to ground out the hot wire (BAT), cause problems to this ignition system? Thanks for your input and knowledge. Kevin

Yea it will melt the wire or blow a fuse. Use a switch to open the wire not ground it.

You mean simply opening the circuit so no volatge flows to the distributor's "12V+" terminal, right? If that's the case then, yes, you can do that. If the HEI doesn't have a 12V source of juice it is "dead" electrically speaking and will not allow the motor to start, nor will it be damaged when you turn the power back on. Really, that's all the ignition switch is doing anyway.

Grounding out this power supply wire would result in an obvious short and wiring damage. I assume that's not what you're talking about doing.

Thanks guys! That's what I needed to know. Instead of grounding, I need to interrupt the completion of the power (+) cuircut to the distributor. Kevin