So i bought one of those Weisco HEI distributors for 80$ or what ever it was a year ago. Its ran on my car now for a year or so.

First off, its garbage. The cap they provide with it barely holds tight as the centering knotch is high clearance. Also, the clips dont do much to keep it down.

Also, the cap apparently must be purchased from them when its time to replace. I spent an hour at Advance Auto trying to match a cap. None worked, I thought a normal 318 cap or something from the magnum series. Nothing, its either too small, too wide, or too tall.

I turned the distributor in a lathe to narrow the Diameter and shorten height from hip to rotor tip.

All this leads up to my question. When I turn my engine over, it turns and turns and turns and usually nothing. I can get it to start, but its usually when right when i start to turn the key back. I have a buddy friggin with the distributor to help hit the sweet spot to start.

Yes, i wired it with Cylinder 1 at TDC. It will and has run. It just starts very very rough. When it runs, it runs a little high, but still strong.

The car has no exhaust currently and I am wondering if lack of back pressure has anything to do with it?

My other concern is that the posts do not line up to the magnetic trigger wheel inside the distributor the same as it did with the other cap.

I took care in trying to do so, but not sure if i messed up. My thoughts are that the engine does run, so i am not sure if that would effect start up.

Any ideas, as always, are greatly appreciated!

You have two power circuits from the ignition. One for start and one for run. Are you sure you are getting power to the igtnition in start mode?

I'll let ya guys know how it goes in the A.M.

And stumpy, thanks again. I am pretty sure I have it wired correctly. I spliced into the wire that is labeled IGN-2 on a wire diagram, which i thought was engaged durning start-up. Either way, it has run as is. Do you think it could have started as the key rolled back, then continued to run?

And, i am going to frig with the Initial advance in the morning and try to hone it in. WORSE case scenario, I will just use an old points style distributor or get a junkyard Elec. until i save enough for a new one from Mopar.

Yes. If you aren't getting power in the start position it can start in the run spot if you catch it right while it's still turning over. I'm not sure but you may have to splice the ign 1& 2 together. Changing distributors isn't going to help if you aren't getting power to the coil in start.

I have power at the coil (checked with a test probe, not volt meter) in both start & run position. When I put the probe in the Wire that leads from coil to distributor I also get a flicker of light on the test probe.

My buddy is en route with a volt meter for some actual measurements. What kind of readings should I be looking for?

It still seems to wanna start as the key rolls back almost everytime. So far, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason as to when it wants to start and when it wont.

If it has the HEI cap and rotor, change the rotor. HEI rotors have been known to burn through and they arch between the advance plate and rotor spring.

ill give that a try. I played with the cap a little. Made some progress. Just a pain in the balls. I am pretty sure my distributor is part of the problem here.

The only thing that seems to help is when i am adjusting the Distributor, and i can't seem to get in perfect which leads me to believe my modification may need some more fine tuning.

My idle is awfully high right now and i can't dial it down too much, I think lack of exhaust may be part of it, but it seems a little choppy also, no vacuum leaks apparent anywhere, but I guess once i get all the other parts in place I will have more to work with.

When you say lack of exhaust, does that mean open headers? If so that should not be affecting what your doing.