Ford question

O

Oilslickwillie

Senior Member
I have a 1955 Ford. Has a 302 engine in it. It has been switched over to 12 volt. We were going to change it over to an electronic distributor. The car has a voltage resistor that is changing power to the coil from 12 volts to 6 volts, even though the coil is 12 volt. I asked a mechanic about this and he said it had to be this way. Is this correct or should it be 12 volt to the 12 volt coil. Don't understand it I guess.
 
The mechanic is right.
A ballast resistor and lower voltage to the coil while the engine is running helps reduce pitting of the points so they last longer.
There is a starter solenoid on the firewall or inner fender near the battery. Part of it's function is to provide full voltage to the coil for a hotter spark during cranking for easier starting.
There is often a label on the coil "Use with external resistor".
Some newer ignition systems won't need this option.
If/when you change to electronic ignition follow the wiring instructions for the unit you have.
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Dmsfrr is right. As he always is. Depends on what you use, but the instructions will tell you.

The one thing you need to watch. If it's a stock ignition sw, the coil may not get power in the "start" position. The power comes from the "s" terminal on the solenoid. Been there, done that. Engine cranks and doesn't start. Release the key, and boom, it's running. Took me a while to figure that out.
 
Put electronic distributor in tonight, car will not keep running. Plugs are at .35, has a 40k coil and new wires, came as a set. Tried changing the timing and no better. Mechanic said he thinks the distributor is bad, even though it is all new. Seems like when we do get it to run, once warmed up is when it dies. Prior to this install, had a points distr. , plugs were at .45 and it ran pretty good and always started. Had a resistor to 6v to the coil. With the electr. Distr. went 12v to coil but will not run. Keeps dying so something is not right with the electronic distr. or we don't have it setup right. May just go back to the points distr. if we can't figure it out. Any suggestions.
 
I guess I'm old, and old-school. I gave up on electronic ignition conversions when one left me stalled in the middle of an intersection twice in the same week, once with an oncoming dump truck.
My '55 project has points and is staying that way. The '14 daily driver in the garage came with a paid up 100k mile maint package and that's fine too.

Your .45 point gap w/ the old dist seems large to me, shouldn't it be closer to .35?
I guess it depends on which yr 302 it has.
Won't stay running when warmed up? That could be a bad coil... or weak fuel pump?
 
I thought 45 was high also. We went with 35 with electronic distr., but could not get it running, at least not for more than a few seconds, then dies. Like I said, may put the points distr back in. Just hate giving up so easy.
 
If it starts, then dies, that may be the most difficult to trouble shoot. You have sometime power.
 
We think it is a bad distr. even though it's new. I think I will just buy new points, condenser, cap, rotor, plugs and new plug wires and put my old distr. back in. At least it ran okay and give up on an electronic distr. Will probably have to put the resistor back on to reduce to 6 volts to coil. Of course can't return the bad distr. since its been installed. They get you that way. Also they say to mail it back and they will test it but who knows if they do, then all they have to say is it checks out okay, they mail it back to you and recharge shipping. Not worth it to me. Don't want this project to turn into a money pit.
 
You never said what kind of electronic dist you put in, but if its a duraspark all that's in the dist is a electronic pick up, they usually work or don't. It seems to me you took out your ballast resistor and that's the problem. Some coils will run on 12v, but most are 12v but made to run with resisted voltage. Try putting in the resistor with what you have and make sure the coil matches the voltage you are using.
 
Packard.. Tonight we put the old distr. back in with all new parts and plugs. Started right up and runs good. The new elect. Distr. was bad so now it's a paper weight.
 
if the company stands behind its product they should test repair or replace it if it turns out faulty they should eat the shipping costs if its operator error its on you wouldn't hurt to try the old school way the phone hopefully you get someone that doesn't read off a card and wont vary from the printed speech on the card worth a try
 
Called today. They were going to replace but I just installed the old distr. with all new parts so they are giving me a store credit instead. Once installed you can't return. Just got a defective one I guess because with my old distr., runs fine.
 
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