snakejake

Hello everyone. First post here and it is a long one. Just wanted to be as clear as possible. I just got my first Corvette that has been sitting a while. The last renewal on the license plate was Sept. 1977! It's a 1966 427 with non original motor. I have been going through it and working out the kinks. I think one of the problems may be the TI ignition.

Before I start the car, with the key in the on position, there is a buzzing coming from the distributor(even with the cap and rotor removed). The car will start fine and fires right up. The car will run fine for anywhere between 2 minutes to 10 minutes then it will all of the sudden just stop running. No warning, no nothing. Just plain stops. Also, after it runs and then stops running, the buzz in the distributor will stop. The vehicle will not start again. It also gets gas from the carb after it stops running. After it cools down, it will start up again with no problems. From what I can see, I have a distributor and wiring from a 1969 model and an amplifier box and coil from a 66. Also, I believe the motor is a 1969 427.

Here are the part numbers:
Distributor 1111928
Coil 231
Amplifier box 1115005

Below are the photos starting with the parts and then showing the flow of the wiring from the front of the car to the distributor/starter.

distributor


coil


amplifier box


amplifier box part number


inside of amplifer box and corrosion


inside of amplifier box


inside of amplifier box cover


wiring starting from where it plugs into amplifier box


wiring where it exits taped portion of harness at firewall/coil area


hook up of wiring at coil


connection of white wire for TI harness to reddish wire going into inside of vehicle


part of TI harness has nothing plugged into it


pink wire that splits off of harness connected to red wire that goes to starter


this wiring that comes off the distributor has nothing hooked up to it. I do have the vacuum line hooked up normally, just removed it to get photo of the distributor


Hopefully you made it this far and sorry to bore you.

Does everything look fine as to how it is set up / hooked up?
Do you think that the TI is my problem with the vehicle just stopping running?
Do I have a coil problem?
Is the corrosion in the box the problem?
Any other suggestions or comments?

Thanks for your help! I am looking forward to getting this car out on the road soon.

Nowhere Man

My guess is the board in the TI box is going bad. I would get a new one

redvetracr

nice car, change the board in the amp to the new style

65silververt

I agree, the board is probably toast since it was obviously subjected to a ton of moisture. You can order a new style board from TI specialty. The wiring all looks correct from the pictures, but I would add an extra ground going from one of the bolts that mount the TI module to the fender apron and run it to the radiator support. It's a common problem for the boxes not to ground properly.

HOWEVER, since the car is not numbers matching, you might want to sell what you have and switch out to a regular points system. I restored a TI car a few years ago and by the time i had the distributor rebuilt with a new module, replaced the board, and eventually replaced the wiring, I was well over $2,000. If everything is ok in the distributor, then you are all set, but if it's not, your wallet is about to get very thin.

Here is what the new style board looks like.

66BlkBB

The last photo where you are holding the wire connection coming out of the distributor should have a connector from the TI wiring inserted into it. That appears to be the same as the original connection for the 66 TI setup. Not sure how they wired your car to get around that. That connector should go directly to the coil inside the distributor. You will definitely need a new amplifier.

When I bought my car in 1979 it had the TI in it. I could never get it to run correctly. I installed two new TI amplifiers with no success. I ultimately pulled the TI system and changed it over to a points setup. Good luck with the car. It looks like a nice unit from the photo.

Vet65te

I've been 'under the hood' of only one midyear with TI, my neighbors 66 425 Horse Coupe and since it hadn't run for a couple years, we pulled the distributor and primed the engine first so I clearly remember that connector that 66BlkBB is talking about that comes off the distributor. In the normal configuration, if that isn't hooked up, it shouldn't run at all so it does appear someone has 'been in there' ahead of you.
By the way, welcome to the Corvette Forum.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

65silververt

I missed where you said that plug wasn't connected to anything. Yes, it goes to the distributor

rich5962

I'd almost bet that if you take your distributor cap off you will find cut wires and a set of points.

There is no way the engine will run with those two 2-terminal connectors disconnected, unless you simply disconnected them yourself for the photos, but your wording doesn't say that.

If you had them connected and hearing a buzzing sound with IGN on, you have a suspect TI Module, wiring, etc. That original type module is no good for sure. Not really usable.

Rich
PS Welcome to CF !!

Edit..... I re-read that you had the cap off.......I'm really confused.

427/42566 coup

check t.i. harness very carefully for splicing of wiring . voltage resistance very important

rongold

The engine cannot run with the distributor unplugged from the TI harness. The amplifier gets the trigger signal to make a spark through that connector. If the engine runs with that plug unplugged, something else is making a spark. Take a picture of the distributor with the cap removed--Let's see what is in there.

DansYellow66

Yeah, I can vouch for the car not running if that plug from the distributor is not connected, because my came loose once. Something is fishy there.

larrywalk

If the amplifier has a feedback loop through corrosion, it is possible for it to self-trigger continuously as long as it has power, even without the distributor pick-up connected as shown in your picture. In this case (confirmed by the buzzing in the distributor), the engine will run similar to the old Model Ts which had a buzz box ignition, but not very well and not for long as the timing is very early and haphazard. It's not surprising that the ignition will quit after a few minutes. Replace the board in the TI amplifier, reconnect the pick-up coil, set the timing, and you should be fine.

snakejake

Thanks for the suggestions and responses! I am amazed at the amount of responses in such a short amount of time. Pretty much what you see in photos the is how it is hooked up. The only thing that I unplugged for the photos was the wiring into the amplifier box and the vacuum line to the distributor. I have attached some more photos below with the cap and rotor off. Also a few more pics of wires not hooked up to anything behind the distributor. Any other suggestions?




This wire does not connect to anything:


This wire, what appears to be a ground is not connected to anything:


Like I said before. In it's current configuration, the car starts and runs perfectly. Then dies. Any other suggestions or comments would be much appreciated. Thanks again for all of your help!

DansYellow66

OK - if you started and ran the car with that lead unplugged, you have experienced a miracle, an alien space ship was passing over, or someone has connected a second set of leads to the coil in the distributor.

I'll see if I can find a recent thread that has an excellent pictorial of all the TI connection and wiring post.

DansYellow66

Go to post 15 by Rich5962 in this thread. He has an excellent pictorial on connection of the TI distributor wiring harness.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-ti-parts.html

snakejake

That should help me get started getting this back to normal condition. Thanks.

65silververt

Keep us posted! I like it when people follow up with results or more discoveries.

JohnZ

The "L"-shaped black connector with the pink and green wires in the third photo is for the backup lights - pink is ignition-switched 12V, green feeds the backup lights.

OldKarz

I was thinking same thing!

DansYellow66

No - you can see in the second set of pictures where the cap is removed - it's a TI distributor. I suspect the plug to it came loose or he may have forgotten he disconnected it after he ran the motor. If he has a distributor that runs without power to it - that would be a thing of wonder.