I Recently Purchased An Unfinished 1956 F100 That A Guy Got Burnt Out On, And I Purchased The Truck With The Following:
5.0l Engine Out Of 1993 Mustang
Aod Tranny
Heidt's Mustang Ii Front End Tci Rear

Since I Brought The Truck Home, I Have Installed A New Holley Carb, Edelbrock Intake Maniford, New Valve Covers, Summit Racing Street & Strip Ready-to-run Billet Distributor With A Summit Cd Coil. I Just Finished Installing An E-z Wiring 21 Circuit Harness. I Installed A 4 Row High Efficiency Copper/brass Radiator, Electric Fuel Pump, Vp Mini Starter For 302. I Also Installed A Gm Single Wire Alternator, And Consulted With Ez Wire Tech Desk, Advising Of The Change In Alternators, And Was Advised To Only Run The Alternator Power Wire, But Would Also Need To Install The Bypass Wire That Came With The Kit.

After Checking To Make Sure That The Oil Was Circulating Through Engine, I Hooked The Coil Wire Up And Attempted To Start Engine, But It Would Not Fire., We Pulled The #1 Plug And No Spark.

Does Anyone Out There In Hot Rodderland, Have Any Advice On Where To Start??? I Sure Do Miss The Doc, In Times Like This.....

Dj

All I can think of right now:

-I assume you know your way around cars & testing circuits...correct?

I am thinking that you are checking for 12v power to the +side of the coil with the key "on". But did you check for 12v power there as the key gets turned to "start"? I'd check that first.

Yes, I Just Checked That---and We Do Have Power To The + Side While Cranking.

On the minus side it should be pulsing while cranking. This is easier to see if you use a test light than a meter. If it is pulsing the primary ignition is working. Go to step 3
If not check the following

1 if it is lit all the time, check your distributor wiring especially the ground,
the module could also be bad or mis wired.
2 if it is not lit at all, disconnect the wire from the distributor and see if it
lights. If it doesn't your coil is probably junk, if it does your distributor is
not working.
3 If the primary seems to be working you can disconnect the negative side of
the coil, hold the coil wire 1/4 inch from a good ground and ground the
negative terminal and then remove the ground. When you remove the
ground the coil wire should produce a spark. If it doesn't the coil is probably
bad.
If all this checks out you should have fire at the plugs, assuming there is a rotor in the distributor. It is sometime a good idea to pull the coil wire from the distributor and check for spark there also. It will quickly prove the primary ignition and coil are working.

Also where this has never run, I would check the basics, like block grounding.
A lot of the electronic distributors require a separate ground, check it to be sure it has a good connection.

Let me know what you find

Chet

Chet

Thanks For The Input--i Will Have Several Items To Check In The Morni9ng. Your Closing Point, About The Separate Ground For Electronic Ignitions---using A Good Grounding Strap Between Engine And Frame???

Dj

Most of the electronic distributors have a seperate ground wire where as the old points type generally were just dependant on distributor to block contact for the ground. A good engine to frame to body grounding system is also very important. I dont think that is your problem though. Run the test I gave you and get back to us

get a wiring diagram, makes it easier in the long run. the online reference center for the college im attending isnt working right atm so i wont be of any help without find a diagram

Chet--ups Called At 0730 Telling Me That They Would Be By Between 8am And 8pm To Pick Up My Distributor To Ship Back To Summit Racing, So, Needless To Say, I Pulled It Out And Got It All Packaged Up, And Now It Is 530 Pm And The Box Is Still Waiting For Ups To Pick It Up. Go Figure. I Guess I Should Have Ran All Your Tests, Before I Pulled It Out. My New Distributor Should Be Here Tomorrow, But Knowing Ups, It Will Be At Least This Late In The Day, Before I See It. I Have Gone Through And Grounded Frame To Engine And Body To Frame.

Dj

Hopefully that was your problem. Let us know. Please double check the wiring for the distributor, a wrong connection could possibly damage the new one as well.

Chet

(Chet, great post #4 above)

no fire when cranking can be not enough voltage at the SS ign module for it to work (turn on) due to high starter motor amp load knocking down the voltage at the module and/or weak batt and/or voltage drop in the worn out harness and/or you have the points 1.5ohm (usually bright pink) resistor wire under the dash still in the ign circuit knocking down the voltage and/or not enough ground for the starter and/or bador undersized cables and connects....

sorry, I don't know what the summit dist SS module "minimum turn on" voltage is....(HEI is about 10.5Vmin, pertronix is about 8Vmin)...but check your V with a meter while cranking at the dist, on the power feed wire.....

if you are reading kinda low V at the dist cranking:
a simple quicky first test is hook up jumpers to a running motor car, (to have alot more amps available for the starter so V will be higher)....then crank your car and test for spark with your timing light...if you do get a spark while jumped...then you need to improve the starter system/circuit

does the starter just need more and better ground (very common problem) simple test: hook up a jumper to batt neg and hook the other end to the bellhousing close to the the starter motor....and test for spark and V at the dist

re: grounding the dist....a "belt and suspenders" ground is always a good plan for any SS device...a copper ground linked back to the batt neg from the dist module ground wire will insure a stable ground source and virtually no ground resistance for less heat in the module...it also "might" help/let the module survive a voltage spike from the alt

re: is the coil dead
different coils have different primary and secondary resistance ratings, you need to what your specific coil is designed to be (ex:primary can be .4ohm, .8ohm, 1.5ohm etc)
then all you need to do is measure the ohms with a meter per attached diagram to know if it is still good

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i was at ups at 0630 to pickup the distributor. i just read you post to check the wiring harness on the distributor---IT IS ONLY A 3 WIRE BROWN TO GROUND, GREEN TO NEGATIVE ON COIL, AND RED TO IGNITION BALLAST RESISTOR ( MY COIL + WIRE AND AND RED WIRE GO ONTO THE SAME SIDE OF THE RESISTOR AND THEN THE OUTGOING WIRE GOES TO THE POSITIVE SIDE OF COIL.) i INSTALLED 2 GOOD GROUNDING STRAPS LAST NIGHT--ENGINE TO FRAME, AND FRAME TO BODY. I AM JUST SETTING TDC TO INSTALL THE DISTRIBUTOR, I WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES--HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE RUNNING ON MY NEXT POST. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP DJ

ah! 60%+ chance you made a simple common wiring error due to the (probably 1.5ohms) ballast resistor....

the dist ign module wants/needs full batt 12V (which it then converts to 5V SS) all the time to turn on and work correctly....

"if" you have 12V to the ballast resistor first post....and then hook up the red dist wire to the second post connected to the coil.....the module is only getting about 6-9 V due to the ballast resistor and won't turn on

be sure the red dist power wire is connected to the 12V feed post...the wire coming from the firewall to the ballast resistor....

do check under the dash to be sure the pink resistance wire isn't plugged into the "run" wire on the ign switch.... you have a external ballast resistor limiting the coil amps...you don't want a second ballast resistor (aka pink wire) knocking down the amps further at the coil (making a much weaker spark)

It Was The Coil---i Ran The Tests That You Guys Forwarded To Me, And I Was Not Getting Power Through The Coil---replaced It And It Took Right Off. Thank You So Much For All Your Help

Dj

Your very welcome, thanks for posting the end result. A lot dont and it is painful to help someone for days and then they just disappear and you never know the outcome

"I't's Alive!"..."It's Alive"...."It's Alive".....(from the original Frankenstein movie)

thanks also for posting what the problem was.....and thanks for saying thanks......way to many don't

what are the summit part #'s for the dist and coil? (I'm curiuos about the electrical spec's)

footnote:
because your setup requires a ballast resistor at the coil(probably .7ohm or 1.5ohm)....use about a .038 "max" plug gap