When my ignitor started showing signs of eventual failure, I read every thread I could find on the $20 ignitor mod that Joe Bialy conceived. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear to me how to apply this mod to my 1995 GT. There were conflicting claims about the differences between 93-94 and 95 distributor wiring, and it took several threads, a few non-Probetalk sites and my Haynes manual to gain enough confidence that I'd do it correctly.
For the benefit of those of you who want to try this mod on your own `95s, I'm opening this thread to document how I've done it on mine. I don't know if there are significant differences between `95s and the `96-`97 cars, so I can't give you any assurance that the same wiring scheme works for later model years. I've put about 1,000 miles on since this mod and have noticed no problems. The HEI runs cool, even after an hour on road (of course, my heat sink is kind of overkill.)
Please read the sticky, "$20 Ignitor Replacement/upgrade" first, as this isn't intended to be a complete tutorial on how to perform the HEI mod; just how you apply it to a `95.
The most significant difference between the `93-`94 and `95 distributor wiring is with the three pin plug. For the earlier model year cars, the splice from wire #1 (closest to the front of the car; the left-most pin when looking straight into the plug with the connector latch facing up) goes to HEI pin C, and the splice from wire #3 goes to HEI pin B.
The wiring of the plug changed for `95. For `95 GTs, a splice from wire #2 goes to HEI pin B, and a splice from wire #3 goes to HEI pin C:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...y/HEIfor95.jpg
For mine, I also grounded the #4 wire on the 6 pin connector (the one that connects to the 5th pin slot in the connector; #3 is a blank.) From what I've read, grounding and heat management are critical for long HEI life, so make certain you have a good ground for both the W pin on the HEI, and the metal chassis of the HEI itself. A heat sink is also recommended. The picture links below show where and how mine is mounted, and the heat sink. My heat sink was cut down from one I salvaged from a server power supply, and is probably overkill.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount00.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount01.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount02.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount03.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount04.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount05.jpg
My HEI mounts to the heat sink, which itself mounts to a metal bracket I cut. That is mounted to a metal strip between the Diagnosis plug box and the fuse box. I relocated a ground to another existing hole in that strip to make room for the bracket. The HEI's body is grounded via the heat sink and bracket assembly, but to be safe I added a dedicated ground wire. I also used thermal paste between the HEI bottom and the heat sink.
Please reply if you have any questions and I'll attempt to answer them. Thanks to all the Probetalkers who pioneered this mod, and to Club Protoge, who documented this mod for `94-`95 cars and from whom I snagged pix of the disty plugs (http://www.clubprotege.com/wil/howto/hei/index.htm)
For the benefit of those of you who want to try this mod on your own `95s, I'm opening this thread to document how I've done it on mine. I don't know if there are significant differences between `95s and the `96-`97 cars, so I can't give you any assurance that the same wiring scheme works for later model years. I've put about 1,000 miles on since this mod and have noticed no problems. The HEI runs cool, even after an hour on road (of course, my heat sink is kind of overkill.)
Please read the sticky, "$20 Ignitor Replacement/upgrade" first, as this isn't intended to be a complete tutorial on how to perform the HEI mod; just how you apply it to a `95.
The most significant difference between the `93-`94 and `95 distributor wiring is with the three pin plug. For the earlier model year cars, the splice from wire #1 (closest to the front of the car; the left-most pin when looking straight into the plug with the connector latch facing up) goes to HEI pin C, and the splice from wire #3 goes to HEI pin B.
The wiring of the plug changed for `95. For `95 GTs, a splice from wire #2 goes to HEI pin B, and a splice from wire #3 goes to HEI pin C:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...y/HEIfor95.jpg
For mine, I also grounded the #4 wire on the 6 pin connector (the one that connects to the 5th pin slot in the connector; #3 is a blank.) From what I've read, grounding and heat management are critical for long HEI life, so make certain you have a good ground for both the W pin on the HEI, and the metal chassis of the HEI itself. A heat sink is also recommended. The picture links below show where and how mine is mounted, and the heat sink. My heat sink was cut down from one I salvaged from a server power supply, and is probably overkill.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount00.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount01.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount02.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount03.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount04.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...HEImount05.jpg
My HEI mounts to the heat sink, which itself mounts to a metal bracket I cut. That is mounted to a metal strip between the Diagnosis plug box and the fuse box. I relocated a ground to another existing hole in that strip to make room for the bracket. The HEI's body is grounded via the heat sink and bracket assembly, but to be safe I added a dedicated ground wire. I also used thermal paste between the HEI bottom and the heat sink.
Please reply if you have any questions and I'll attempt to answer them. Thanks to all the Probetalkers who pioneered this mod, and to Club Protoge, who documented this mod for `94-`95 cars and from whom I snagged pix of the disty plugs (http://www.clubprotege.com/wil/howto/hei/index.htm)
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