Help Installing IE Distributor

[Oakland Jeff]

I feel like I’m in one of those action movies where the guy trying to disarm the bomb has to choose between the red wire and the black wire and if he chooses the wrong one the whole thing blows up.

1975 ‘02 with all the smog stuff removed.

 

I am replacing the stock distributor with the Ireland Engineering style “Tii mechanical advance distributor with electronic igniter”.

 

From the installation instructions:
The igniter requires at least 2 ohms of resistance in the coil OR an external ballast resistor to limit the current flow. If you use the factory BMW coil or a Bosch Red coil you must use the external resistor. If you use the Bosch Blue coil you do not need the resistor. The Blue coil has a resistor built inside the case.

AND

The igniter has 2 wires. The BLACK wire goes to the negative (-) side of the coil. The RED (or YELLOW) goes to the positive side of the coil. Be careful when wiring the igniter. If the wires are reversed the igniter may be damaged.

 

Stock black coil. My car has the famous “resistor wire” that goes from the positive terminal on the coil back towards the distributor, then all the way along the firewall to the drivers side where it disappears near the fuse box. Am I correct in assuming that I need the entire length of the resistor wire so that I maintain proper resistance from the positive terminal on the coil to the red wire of the new distributor? And do I then run a new black wire from the black wire on the new distributor to the negative terminal on the coil? Also, do I strip the blue cover off of the resistor wire all the way back until I find the its end? If I find it do I then tap into it or cut it and splice the red wire onto the end of the resistor wire? 

 

clarifying questions welcome.

 

Apologies if this is been addressed in a prior post or article. My search skills are pretty good but I couldn’t find anything…

 

(I’m using the instructions from IE, but I bought the dizzy from Top End Performance. No instructions included. The TEP dizzy looks to be the same as the one from IE)

[Dudeland]

1st,  keep the old dizzy handy,  the no name dizzies don't have a great reputation for working. 

 

The resistor wire is to drop the voltage to about 9v during regular running.   The black coil should be the stock coil, but get some numbers off it and post them here just in case, you never know what got thrown in there, and many of them look alike. 

 

You need the resistor wire!.

 

If the leads on the dizzy are long enough then just disconnect the existing black wire and use the one from the dizzy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Oakland Jeff]

[Oakland Jeff]

Also: I measured the resistance from the positive terminal to the negative terminal as 2.3 ohms on the Bosch coil. The coil that is actually on the car right now is from an auto parts store. It measures 3.0 ohms and says “12 V no external resistor required“

[Dudeland]

9 minutes ago, Oakland Jeff said:

Also: I measured the resistance from the positive terminal to the negative terminal as 2.3 ohms on the Bosch coil. The coil that is actually on the car right now is from an auto parts store. It measures 3.0 ohms and says “12 V no external resistor required“

That is why you check.  Your car has been running with weak voltage to the coil. 

 

So yes, bypass the resistor wire. I cut mine out and ran a new one.   If memory serves it is inside a blue sheith. I wrapped  the old one and and kept it just in case someone may need it. 

 

If you want, there is a sub harness that runs the smog stuff that you can just unplug, but get it running with the new dizzy first. 

 

Regards

 

 

 

[Oakland Jeff]

Ok, so I put the black Bosch 2.3 ohm coil back on and run the red wire straight from the dizzy to the + on the coil? And bypass the resistor wire?

[Dudeland]

10 hours ago, Oakland Jeff said:

Ok, so I put the black Bosch 2.3 ohm coil back on and run the red wire straight from the dizzy to the + on the coil? And bypass the resistor wire?

You use the coil that says 12v, no resistor required and bypass the resistor. 

 

 

 

Edited April 26 by Dudeland

[Oakland Jeff]

Sorry, still confused. 
 

2 hours ago, Dudeland said:

You use the coil that says 12v, no resistor required and bypass the resistor. 

 

 

 

this is the 3.0 ohm auto parts store coil. 
(before you wrote “Your car has been running with weak voltage to the coil”. Maybe you mean that it’s more than 3.0 ohms because of the resistance wire?)

if I ditch the resistance wire won’t I lose the function of higher voltage during starting?

[Mark92131]

3 hours ago, Oakland Jeff said:

if I ditch the resistance wire won’t I lose the function of higher voltage during starting?

 

The higher voltage is supplied by the red/black wire from terminal 15 on your starter to the "+" side of your coil.  Bypass the resistor wire when using the 12V, no resistor required coil.

 

Mark92131

[Mark92131]

4 hours ago, Mark92131 said:

Bypass the resistor wire when using the 12V, no resistor required coil.

 

In other words, run a straight wire from fuse #4 to the "+" side of your coil.

 

Mark92131

[Dudeland]

How did you make out? 

 

 

[Oakland Jeff]

12 hours ago, Dudeland said:

How did you make out? 

 

 

Great! For a while…
got it running, set the timing, took it for a drive all was well. Took it out again yesterday and it started cutting out on me. It seemed like the spark was intermittent. I got it up in the driveway and started doing some reading here. Someone said if the coil is hot it means the coil is bad. It had cooled off some but it was still quite hot when I put my hand on it. 
 

The way I had it hooked up was using the original black & red/resistor wire that are grouped together to + side of the coil. Then the red wire from the electronic ignition also to the + side of the coil. Black wire from the electronic ignition to the negative side of the coil. This is the 12 V, 3.0 ohm auto parts store coil. I’m almost certain I measured 13.5 V at the positive terminal with the key in the run position. I’m not sure why I’d get full voltage.  I should be getting power through the resistor wire @~ 10V. 
 

Anyway, I was planning on just swapping in the original black coil, which I’m sure is still good, leaving it wired the same way. I hope I don’t fry that coil too!

[John76]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:42 AM, Oakland Jeff said:

I was planning on just swapping in the original black coil,

Jeff,

Your '75 and my '76 CA are identical. The original Bosch black coil has a 2-ohm primary resistance and is used with the 0.9 ohm resistor wire for a total of 2.9 ohms. This is needed for protecting the points in a stock ignition. The solder joint connecting the green wire (from the "hot" side of fuse #12) to the resistor wire is in the blue sheath running across the firewall and is located at the center point (near the hood lock ). If the IE dizzy w/ electronic ignition module requires at least a 2-ohm coil, the black coil can be used, but there is no need for the resistor wire. 

Here's a sketch of how I wired my PerTronix ignition (same as IE w/ red and black wires).  I also included pictures of the connections to the stock black coil. I left the resistor wire in place in case I needed to revert back to points. Ha...no way!

Hope this helps.

John

PS: Will you be at the Brisbane event on Saturday?

 

 

 

 

[Oakland Jeff]

Hey John, thanks! That answers is (almost) all my questions. Super thorough. Thank you!

I have it hooked up just a little bit different from your drawing. The plus side of the coil is getting the red and black wire and the resistor wire. (I left the resistor wire there just so I wouldn’t have to cut it. I’m assuming it’s not doing anything). Also new red wire from the distributor to the plus side of the coil. The negative side of the coil gets a new black wire from the distributor, and the black wire that I assume goes to the tachometer. 
There is a black wire coming from the blue loom that is just dangling. Maybe that goes to the (unused) speed relay? car starts and idles well, haven’t driven it yet…

[Oakland Jeff]

I am planning on going to Brisbane. I’ll bring the car if it’s running (Sahara with a roll bar) and, in any case, my dog Lola (black-and-white pitbull mix)