Long ago bought a Crane XR1 points conversion. Just did not work and all tests point to bad module. End of Nov

Bought an Accel conversion. Some one nipped the wires, resealed the package, so I had to return it for another package. Early Dec

long period of Ohio crappy weather and finally nice dry day on Saturday so I installed the new conversion kit. no spark and now it's dark. January

Went to Church and figured I would spend the afternoon tracking down the problem. After wasting a few hours finally found the factory crimped the wire but did not remove the insulation - so no power to the module.

Soldered on a new terminal and checked all the other connections. Got it fired up and running good.

Does any one else have this kind of unfortunate luck?

Saturday night, I felt like selling both the 70 and 85, buying a new vette
so any problems take it to a dealer and let them fix it.

today feeling better since it is running and venting a bit here

 

We all have been there and feel your pain, Brother! This is why old stuff is so much FUN! Glad you got it fixed. Now go get a Red Stripe, pop in some Bob Marley, and dream of warm spring breezes, Mon!

temvette72

 

I hate it when that kind of luck comes my way. Good thing it's all done and ready to go.

 

If you want to change to pointless ignition, there's no reason not to, but if your engine is running fine now, why bother? I would wait until the car genuinely need a complete tune-up before investing the moolah.

When cars as old as ours start running funny, simply changing to an electronic ignition rarely fixes the problem...it masks it. You need to determine the root cause of the problem and fix that. Then you can make other improvements.

As good as factory electronic ignitions have become, I know of quite a few who have changed from points to a conversion kit that carry a set of points and condenser in their car "just in case".

 

Correct on all 'points', pun intended, but that's really rubbing salt in the wound, no?

 

I've had no issues with points conversion; but there is a WHOLE list of other issues. Let's see, brake bleeding trouble (until I got a Motive bleeder), steering column turn signal / blinker issues to this day, new clutch just aint right, on and on... Gotta love these old cars!

 

I don't know what your dealers are like but here it's just as hit and miss as working on the car yourself and relying on parts vendors.

Some dealers are ok but I've heard numerous stories about dealerships damaging cars, road testing em like they stole em and charging for work/parts not done.

When I had very little time I made the mistake of taking my car to one of our 'Corvette Specialists' here in the UK and the work was appalling

That reminded me that although it may be frustrating, no one will do as diligent a job as you will

 

If you don't enjoy the work [or have the money to hire others do it for you], you really shouldn't be fooling around with a vintage car. Half the fun for me is diagnosing and fixing the car's problems myself...and then I get to drive it!

 

Being a old ET/design support tech, I enjoy the LONG list of mods to my car, but, there are TIMES, just last week I got sick/tired of the slo drip from my install of a heater control valve down lo near the core...just enough of a drip to wet the floor overnight, so I would reach under and tighten whatever hose was offending....well the other day it got worse, so I jacked up the car and went after that filthy *****.....

so I reorganized the entire arrangement, flipped the valve around, and put it all together nice and neat....still leaked, traced it to a cold solder joint on a copper L I used for turning 90*....took it out and resoldered good, put back in....still leaked the next morning, found a loose line on the valve itself, tightened it, no leak all day hot or cold...next morning...another drip....the other piece of pipe had dripped, tightened it again....all them clamps so tight now their nutz are in China....

so this being about the 99th trip under this thing for a stupid valve....

:toeta p:

 

More of the frustration is I buy well known name brand parts from well known suppliers - yet I am alway the one receiving the less than .01% defective part. A two hour job that takes two weekends.......

 

AMEN brother

 

It can be frustratng.....



Went to O'reilly Aut Parts today to pick up the special order ACCEL #4050 (Hi-perf for a 76 under manifold installation) plug wires for my 69 (HEI conversion). Wires were to be black with the rubber "buttons" for the wire retainer.

At the store I open the box and voila, they are YELLOW with out the rubber "buttons"....




Wasted a nice weather day.....

 

The word "service" doesn't mean what it used to.

mrvette.... Believe me, I feel your pain. We all do. When that kind of cr@p happens to me, I blame it all on Loki...that sh!tty little imp that lives under my garage floor and who comes out to pester me whenever he can. When you set the pliers down...and know exactly where you put them--but they're not there when you look for them? Loki! When you've given up on finding the pliers and use the Vise-grips to do the job and end up scuffing up the chrome on the part; and right then the pliers magically re-appear...right where you left them? Loki!!

The only way I've figured to keep some sanity when that kind of ch!t happens is to blame Loki. Works for me. But, I haven't figured out exactly why the older I get, the more he shows up....

 

I too have one of these pesky imps

One of his favourite tricks is if I drop a spring or a washer through the engine bay, he picks it up and runs off with it.

It must be him because when I do find it's so far away from the car there's no way physics could explain how it got that far.

 

For ME, it's ALWAYS directly under the exact middle of the car/truck/project....

 

I will always be a points man.. i would have constant fear on coasting to a stop on the highway because of a cheap chinese electronics module gave out in my distributor.. I know how points work and I don't run my car at 5000 rpm to need electronic controls.

IMHO

 

I will always be a points man.. i would have constant fear on coasting to a stop on the highway because of a cheap chinese electronics module gave out in my distributor

Are you sure the points are not Chinese made?

Bought BCA (Bearing Corp of America) Bearings - made in Korea.
Bought TRW suspension components - made in Mexico
Bought Raybestos steering parts ( Pro grade) made in China

restored a Ford 8N over $1000 in parts ( none made in USA)

 

My take on this is that your real issues should be with the current parts suply chain.

Case(s) in point:
I went through 4 Accel distributors for my truck because the Accel module kept dying on me... each time the truck was on the road... and Advance Auto was nearbye... and the module was nearly the cost of a new distributor... and had to be special ordered. So I grabbed a new distributor each time and installed it on the side of the road. On the fifth one... I bought a cheap store brand module... it's been running flawlessly ever since. Accel let me down. I had faith in their products.

I am rebuilding 4 Mustangs.. two 89's and 2 90's... I need new window rubber (interior wiper, rear window)... ordered the correct part... it could not be installed without major modifications... serious cut & paste... drill & grind... re-rivet etc. Contacted the supplier... they claimed I was wrong... took me 2 months to get them to admit the product was manufactured wrong. Only when I managed to get a person on the phone who had actually attempted to install the product on his own car, and it didn't fit, did I get an acknowledgement.
This project is still on hold due to this.

Bought a "RAM" clutch and flywheel for my 70 LS5 (454).
When I tried to install the flywheel, I could not bolt it to the crank... the bolt holes are just enough off spec that the bolts cannot be installed unless I re-drill the flywheel.... put it back in the box... put a new ring gear on my original, had it turned, and re-installed the original GM flywheel.
But I'm out $300.. waited too long before I installed it.

Bought a carb kit for a Holley... a Holley kit... the power valve was the wrong value... I have owned this carb since new... it was the first rebuild... never been messed with... had to take a printout of Holley's numerical listing to the vendor to show them that the power valve in the kit was wrong.

Went through 3 sets of brake hoses for my truck before I got two that fit correct.

Same thing with rack & pinions for my Mustangs... there were different hose fitting sizes year to year... they claimed one size fits all... not true.

I could go on & on.

It's not the cars... it's the crappy parts... people who are not doing their job very well.

 

HOLY COW! I Darn near hit the floor laughing because I swear Loki has been at my house too!!!

Great bit and a great philosophy. I'd ask to use it, but I'm afraid Loki may get blamed so much that my wife will finally have a good enough reason to send me to the funny farm. With the way my vette has been treating me lately, the registration process has already begun...

 

Accel wire color scheme as follows:
suffix K = Black, B = Blue, R = Red, Y = Yellow.

Pretty sure 4050 series is graphite core. Certain 5050 is spiral core & has the button for HEI retainer.
A good p/n to meet your requirements is Accel 5050K ... 8mm, spiral core super stock, long for under manifolds (fully terminated), HEI w/ button, 90* sp boots, all black except for yellow lettering on semi-gloss black wire. I'm looking at my backup set.

Today, about $55 at summit/jegs ... a few years back I got em at fleabay delivered about half$.