19 replies to this topic

[Burnard]

Right im stumped,

I have a 1988 mini designer with the standerd ignition system atm, which i am going to be fitting the britpart electronic ignition to and a lucas sports coil (12v non ballast), and a TIM tacho.

I'm pretty sure i understand the tacho wireing, but the coil and dizzy have got me really confused.
Ive spent ages looking and cant work it out, mainly because i cant find the other end of the wires other than the one that goes to the dizzy.


How exactly do i wire this in, and remove the wireing from the old coil?
A wireing diagram would be great if there is one.



Thanks


Chris

[bmcecosse]

Better to stick with ballast -it's there for a good reason.

[Cooperman]

Having has the 'pink' resistor voltage-dropper wire burn out and take half the front loom with it it can make sense to use a 12v coil. I've never understood the rationale behind going to a 9V coil and having spent 6 hours re-wiring ther one which burnt out I don't particularly want to. All my Minis going back to about 1961 have run with 12 v coils and I've never had any problems.
Basically, you must feed a new ignition wire from the ignition switch to the coil. The correct colour code for this is white.
If you can trace the pink wire in the front loom and follow it back, it is connected to a white wire just inside the engine bay. Cut into it there to by-pass the pink wire and run the extended new wire to the coil 'SW' side. The other wire, which should be white/black, goes from coil 'CB' to the distributor. 'SW' may be marked as negative on some 12 v coils.

[Burnard]

why is the ballat coil better then?

From what ive read the britpart ignition only works with 12v coils so im haveing to go that way.

The only white wire i can find has no effect on the coil, so that cant be right for this car.


Can you tell me exactly where the other end of the coil wires are so i can get a better idea of what to do, or so i can disconect them and start again.



Forgot to mention i have read the haynes manual wireing diagram which doesnt make any sence for the ignition system on my car (it thinks i have a tack as standerd?)



Thanks


Chris

Edited by Burnard, 07 September 2009 - 04:04 PM.

[Cooperman]

Chris, go back to basics with the ignition system. Get access to the ignition/starter switch. Now get a circuit tester and switch the ignition on so that the ignition light comes on. Find the live output from the switch and identify the wire which should be white. Follow that a little way and then cut it off and join it, properly withy a bullet connection, to a new piece of white cable. Run this cable through the bulkhead using an existing cable run as an access point and take the wire to the coil -ve terminal (or SW if it is so marked). Now you can energise the coil by switching the ignition on. Run the coil +ve to the distributor's flying lead and connect the HT lead from coil to distributor. Now you have a complete ignition circuit and it only remains to connect the tacho leads.
The tacho impulse lead from the coil to nthe tacho should be connected to the coil -ve and run back to the tacho. Then you have the tacho power lead which should be from a fused +ve and the tacho earth which is obvious. the tacho wiring can also be found on a web-site. Try 'Tachometer Wiring' on Google for more details.
It really is as simple as one white wire from ignition switch to coil -ve, plus a wire from coil +ve to the dizzy.
I hope all this helps.

[dklawson]

Oh Dan... calling Dan.... Until he posts I'll offer a few comments.

The question was asked "Why is a ballast coil better?" The answer is that the ballast coil system (not just the coil itself) allows for easier starting. Under normal operating conditions the coil is fed power via a resistor (or the pink resistor wire) which lowers the coil's operating voltage... and throttles the current flowing through the coil. During cranking, power is fed to the coil from an extra terminal on the starter solenoid. This extra wire (white/yellow) bypasses the ballast resistor so the coil runs at higher voltage with more current, thus a hotter spark.

Ballast ignition systems were generally dropped when cars went to electronic ignition. This is generally attributed to the different dwell allowable with electronic ignitions. This allows easier starting without the additional components. However, there is no reason you can't use an electronic ignition module to operate a ballast ignition system. You just have to make sure the ignition module is powered with full voltage and you have (in some instances) to make sure the coil does not allow too much current to flow in continuous operation.

[Burnard]

ok, i understand how to wire my tacho in, that isnt a problem for me.

I have found the white wire under the dash that connects to the ignition switch.

Which i will run a wire from, through another switch (is 25A rated enough? ) then to the + side of the coil, and also plug the red wire from my britpart electronic to the + side.

And also connect the black wire from the britpart electronic to the - side of the coil.

Is that it or am i still in the land of no ignition?


Thanks


Chris

[lrostoke]

The wirings pretty simple.



Look at your fuse box there should be a fuse with a white wire in green wire out, take a feed off the white wire run this to the positive on the coil assuming your using a non ballast coil.

The original wires that went to the positive on the coil, tape them up, they aren't needed.

The red wire from the Britpart run to the positive on the coil.

The negative side use your exisiting loom, and find the spade connector down near the dizzy that the points wire normally connects to, plug your black wire for the britpart into this.

You should find if the wiring is present for a tacho, it will work, because it comes off the exisiting loom negative wire to the coil.

[Deejayry]

I'd avoid mesing with the wires around the ignition switch, you'll only make things messy.

The process of changing to a non balast ignition system is simple. NOTE: colours in caps refer to the main colour, lowercase refers to the band colour. for example WHITE/black refers to a wire that is mostly white with a black streak

• Locate PINK/white wire on + terminal of ignition coil and disconect it
• remove tape from wiring loom between the coil connections and fuse box
• carefully seperate the PINK/white wire from the rest of the loom. it should be connected to the left hand terminal of the top fuse.
• Disconnect PINK/white wire frome fuse box
• Replace the PINK/white wire with cable rated at 10A If you can get it use WHITE coloured wire.
• Locate WHITE/yellow wire on + terminal of coil
• Remove tape from loom between coil and starter solenoid (Pre engaged starter only)
• locate and remove WHITE/yellow wire on starter solenoid.
• pull WHITE/yellow wire from loom
• Finally test everything out, then tape the loom back up.

The Tacho feed is the WHITE/black wire which is usually connected to the - terminal of the coil, even if your car never had a tacho fitted to it, the wire will usually be in the loom along with a WHITE wire and a BLACK wire coming from the loom close to where the big multi plug is for the instruments

The only other wire connected to the coil on a contact breaker system will be the contact breaker wire, these often vary in colour, but BLACK is the most common. This wire will be connected to the - terminal of the coil

[Burnard]

ok, i think i get it now.

I will use the standerd wires for the - side of the coil, and attactch the tacho green wire to the one under the dash (purple/white), and connect the black wire from the britpart ignition to the - aswell.

I will run a new + from the top fuse (20a) to the coil + and tape up the old + connections. I will also connect the red wire from the britpart ignition to the + side of the coil.

Is that right?

I will connect the White wire on the tacho to a lighing switch, and the black wire to earth.
My tacho wireing diagram shows i need to connect the red wire to the + side of the coil, is this nesercery or can i just connect it to any + supply? (i have a + feed under the dash which comes out at the same point at the blue purple which increases is voltage with the revs?



Thanks


Chris

Edited by Burnard, 07 September 2009 - 05:54 PM.

[Burnard]

I'd avoid mesing with the wires around the ignition switch, you'll only make things messy.

The process of changing to a non balast ignition system is simple. NOTE: colours in caps refer to the main colour, lowercase refers to the band colour. for example WHITE/black refers to a wire that is mostly white with a black streak

• Locate PINK/white wire on + terminal of ignition coil and disconect it
• remove tape from wiring loom between the coil connections and fuse box
• carefully seperate the PINK/white wire from the rest of the loom. it should be connected to the left hand terminal of the top fuse.
• Disconnect PINK/white wire frome fuse box
• Replace the PINK/white wire with cable rated at 10A If you can get it use WHITE coloured wire.
• Locate WHITE/yellow wire on + terminal of coil
• Remove tape from loom between coil and starter solenoid (Pre engaged starter only)
• locate and remove WHITE/yellow wire on starter solenoid.
• pull WHITE/yellow wire from loom
• Finally test everything out, then tape the loom back up.

The Tacho feed is the WHITE/black wire which is usually connected to the - terminal of the coil, even if your car never had a tacho fitted to it, the wire will usually be in the loom along with a WHITE wire and a BLACK wire coming from the loom close to where the big multi plug is for the instruments

The only other wire connected to the coil on a contact breaker system will be the contact breaker wire, these often vary in colour, but BLACK is the most common. This wire will be connected to the - terminal of the coil

Messy? you should see my spotlight wireing.

ok, I will have a go at that. Would i be right in thinking that i can use the standerd part of the loom that is connected to the - side of the coil?
One other thing, there is a short black wire, which is connected to the coil which goes into a little cylender which is bolted to the coil mount allong with the coil, what does this do and do i need to keep it?


That is a very very good guide about what to do. assumeing it is correct, mabe it should be in the FAQ?

[Ethel]

You might get lucky & find a spare (white) 12v ignition feed taped up in the loom near the coil, but I think that will have been phased out by 88.

I don't see the need to dismantle the loom just run a feed from the fusebox.

You can take your rev counter's live feed from any ignition live too, you're right that you only need a signal from the -ve terminal.

The little can is a radio interference suppressor (capacitor), you can probably remove it without any issues.

[Burnard]

I wont refit the capaciter then, as i dont have a radio, and it will be funy sitting in traffic with people wondering why they have bad radio signal

I will tidy up my loom a bit, but i wont dismantle it all the way upto the fuse box, ill just make sure i dont have any random unused wires hanging out that will inevitably short out on something at some point if left.


Ok, i know what im doing now. Assuming the sports coil will work with the stander points system, i will wire it all up tomorrow and test it before i set to work fitting the britpart kit.


Thanks guys


chris

[spennyy2k]

i am going to be fitting the britpart electronic ignition

i used one of these for a few months, worked fine for a few weeks then started to play up constantly. iv read a few other forums all showing the same faults, i think its something to do with the magnet breaking down when it gets hot, car wont rev, idles badly. solved the problem by putting points back in.

[lrostoke]

But the flip side to that experience is I've fitted two Britpart units to 2 minis, both been running just over 12 month, used daily, one of them just went Cornwall and back covering probably 700 mile in total, stuck in traffic, no problems.
These are both daily driver cars as well not pampered garage babys