40 replies to this topic

[freaker]

thanks for the reply,

 

so if i understand it correct. i will place a wire from the - side of the coil to the block, so its earthed, 

 

i will then switch on my ignition and measure from the + side of the coil to an earth on the car, and see what voltage i have...

 

 

just to check if i understand it correctly

 

freaker

[jelboy89]

On my loom which is ballast I have a wire from the starter to the coil to give 12v while cranking

Jerry

[dklawson]

so if i understand it correct. i will place a wire from the - side of the coil to the block, so its earthed, 

i will then switch on my ignition and measure from the + side of the coil to an earth on the car, and see what voltage i have...

 

Yes, that is exactly right.  In effect you are creating a situation similar to if the points were closed or the electronic module conducting.  Doing this allows current to flow through the wiring to earth.  If there is a ballast resistor in the system it will cause a voltage drop and that voltage drop will be apparent from your voltage measurements between coil (+) and earth. 

 

 

On my loom which is ballast I have a wire from the starter to the coil to give 12v while cranking

 

And that is why the ballast ignition system was created.  The system uses a white/yellow wire between the starter solenoid and the coil (+) terminal to provide higher voltage to the coil (bypassing the ballast resistance) while the engine is being cranked on the starter. 

 

However, if the replacement loom is correct for Freaker's application, it won't have a ballast resistor.  The tests I described in my last post will indicate whether a ballast resistance is present or not.

[freaker]

so i did the test with the wire, 

 

and when i switch on the ignition with the old battery i got 11.34V 

 

so i may assume there is no resistor wire present in my loom ? 

 

freaker

[dklawson]

Yes, your car has "standard" ignition wiring.  If a ballast was in the ignition wiring you would have measured 9V or lower. 

 

You said this is an older battery and I suspect if you measure its voltage directly on its terminals it will also be close to 11V.  If you measure 11V across the battery terminals, either charge it or replace it (if it is old).  Before putting it on a charger, make sure the electrolyte in the cells is topped up.  A healthy battery will charge to about 12.5V.  Once they start showing below 12V after being on a charger, they are worn out. 

[freaker]

yeah, thats next new 70ah battery was delivered today. havent installed it yet...

will do tomorrow

[freaker]

so a little update on this,

 

me and a mate tried starting her again yesterday. 

 

we took everything apart again, distributor and cap, nothing happened.

 

tried the wire straight from the fusebox. nothing happened. 

 

he then looked into the cap my mate and noticed one of the connecting points where out of line....

 

and other were already badly scraped. will get a picture on here in a minute. 

 

we tried a different cap but the cap was damaged so no succes there. 

 

need a new one. 

we also found out the shaft of the distributor is 180 degrees out. why we dont know as its stuck as hell. so cant have come out accidently. so we figured the combination out of that, and then our battery died on us.... 

 

we also noticed yesterday, that sometimes the engine would turn over faster then other times cranking....

 

freaker

[freaker]

as promised the picture of the cap 

 

 

 

 

freaker

[freaker]

one more thought, the battery cable gets hot on the connection that arrives at the solenoid on the inner wing. 

very fast, like after maybe  20 seconds of turning over. 

 

the ring thats on there, is a bit big could that be the cause of this issue of this faster slower turning ? 

 

freaker

[dklawson]

The slower turning is likely to be more from your starter motor fighting the compression with the engine not firing.  The cable and terminal are going to get hot.  Remember that the starter motor is pulling a huge about of Amperes while turning the engine over.

 

I had to open your picture link and post the image into another program to see the distributor cap terminal problem.  Yes... you need a new cap.  You also will need a new rotor even if the old one looks good.  Buy a matched pair.

 

OK... so the dizzy is in 180 degrees out and you cannot pull the dizzy out of the block.  This is not good but it's not the end of the world either.  Can you still turn the dizzy to set the timing?  If so... read on... if not, skip the following until you get the distributor free.

1. Place the gearbox in neutral, take the valve cover off and remove all the spark plugs.
2. Pull the engine over (using the fan belt and fan) in the normal direction of rotation.
3. Stop turning the engine when you can see piston #1 (water pump end) near the top of its bore (looking through the plug hole).
4. Grab the rocker arms above piston #1 (rocker arms 1 & 2) and see if they can move or if they are held tight by compressed valve springs.
5. If the arms are tight and cannot be moved, turn the engine through one more complete revolution until you can wiggle the rocker arms and piston #1 is again coming up to the top of its bore.  #1 coming to the top and both rocker arms "loose" indicates your engine is approaching TDC on its firing stroke.
6. Stop turning the engine when the timing marks line up anywhere from 4 BTDC to 8 BTDC.  
7. Do you know how to set static timing?  If not, go to the link I post below and download my PDF that will walk you through it.
8. Set the static timing.
9. With the distributor locked down and static timing set, fit the rotor to the distributor.
10. Start to lower the dizzy cap onto the distributor and note exactly which terminal on the cap the rotor is pointing at.
11. Place the spark plug wire for #1 on the dizzy cap where the rotor is pointing.
12. Place the remaining plug wires on the dizzy cap in the order 1-3-4-2 going COUNTERCLOCKWISE around the cap. 

You have now set the static timing AND positioned the spark plug wires around the cap in the proper firing order to work with your distributor position.  It may not match pictures in the manual but it will be correct for how your distributor is installed.

 

https://sites.google...icTiming[1].pdf

[freaker]

hello thanks for the reply.

 

will get onto this, just ordered a new cap from minispares, didn`t order a rotor arm. 

 

also emailes the company powerspark with the picture attached to explain this to them 

 

will see what they say tomorrow.

 

freaker