73 electronic ignition help

[Jake leathers]

I got my car fired up once before and went to put the air cleaner on when it was at idle and it shocked the crap out of me. Haha. Could something not be grounded properly?

 

[cdnEHbody]

Sounds like you have spark leaking from either wires, or caps if it zapped you that bad.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Bad wires maybe.

 

[BillGrissom]

I got my car fired up once before and went to put the air cleaner on when it was at idle and it shocked the crap out of me. Haha. Could something not be grounded properly?

Sounds like you verified you have a strong spark and your body was certainly grounded well. One learns to not touch the body when grabbing the distributor cap to adjust timing. A spark plug wire is probably leaking. Look at the engine idling in the dark. If you see ghost flashes around the plug wires, you need new ones.

When GM's HEI first came out, there was fear that it was powerful enough to be dangerous, but I haven't heard of anybody's heart stopping since and I am sure many have felt the spark. A youtube video compares spark from different ignition systems. The strongest comes from "single coil per cylinder" systems, like the GM LS engine coils.