Working on a 1969 Camaro with a new 396 BBC. I have had the engine running before, but today I can't get it to go. Has plenty of gas but the spark seems weak. As I was poking around in the engine bay I noticed that when the ignition is on the resistance wire going to the positive side of the coil gets extremely hot. Any suggestions? What am I missing here? I need some help. Thanks, Marc

Marc,

If you still have the resistance wire then you must still be running points. When the ignition is left on for a few minutes and the points are closed the wire will get hot. Be sure that the yellow wire is hooked up to the starter. This is a shunt wire giving more voltage to the coil during engine cranking. This wire connects to the out side small post on the starter, then up through the harness to the + side of the coil. There should be a yellow wire crimped in with the resistor wire from the factory.

Larry www.lnjstreetrods.com (http://www.lnjstreetrods.com)

Thanks Larry, I had a number of problems, my old starter was pulling over 300 amps (according to the tester at Auto Zone), so I beleive my ignition system was failing as a result. Also the vacuum port on the side of my Q-Jet for the smog valve had a crack which resulted in a leak that made it impossible to start the engine. So after cleaning my gas soaked plugs and fixing the port leak, all seems to be better. Thanks for your help.

Good, hope you get it all ironed out.

Go have fun, Larry
www.lnjstreetrods.com (http://www.lnjstreetrods.com)