my question is where does the negative terminal of the coil go? should the negative side of the coil be grounded to the engine or frame? The Distributor has a yellow plate in the middle that has 2 screw terminals and a coil wire plug, what connects to this yellow center plate, now I have the negative terminal from the coils going to the plate in the center of the distributor, and the positive side of the battery going to the positive of the coil, no spark at the plugs. Should I ground the negative side of the coils, and connect the positive side to the distributor?
Is your engine grounded to frame ? The distributor needs to grounded. The engine should have a ground strap to the frame. Depending on the distributor it may need a seperate ground. In order to for the coil to fire the points need a ground. No ground. No spark even if the coil is good.
Negative post of coil goes to distributor. Positive is 12 v or less of it goes through a ballast resistor.
Hopefully you know that the firing order on the H&C dual-coil distributor is NOT the same as is marked on a stock cap! So - unless you have a remarked H&C cap - or you know how to put the plug wires in the correct locations, you'll have 4 out of 8 cylinders firing at the wrong time. I've never seen a 'brown' H&C cap, so my guess is that this is a stock one - so be warned! If you need the correct order, ping me and I'll take a picture of a true H&C cap. It isn't hard to figure out yourself (was the way I solved my obvious problem when I was 16 and knew that something was seriously wrong when I attempted to start a new motor). All you have to remember is that the distributor fires on the alternate contacts of the rotor - going back and forth. So, you can easily extrapolate the order if you take the firing order and walk around the cap - jumping back and forth on the plug-wire terminals as the distributor turns. Good luck, D
Assuming you are running 12 volts with negative ground; the negative side of the coil(s) wires to the screw terminals on the center plate which is the connection to the points which are connected to ground when they are closed. Here is a picture of the H&C cap; my website has an article on the H& C distributor.
The Coils that are on it now are 6 volt, I do not know if they are any good or not? I do not have the engine or Distributor grounded, other than with the regular engine mounting bolts. I will try grounding the distributor to the frame.
You can test the coil. Put voltage to positive. Take coil wire hold a small gap from a ground. Take a jumper from negative side of coil. Tap jumper to ground. Coil wire should arc to ground.
2 jumper wires from the condensers to the dual coil plate did the trick, I now have spark at the plug, thanks
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