I know there's loads of these threads on here and I've looked through heaps of them but the prob I'm having is on a original motor in an original 32 sports coupe, with a repo wiring harness. I have 6v at the coil wire when it's disconnected, but 1.9 volts when it's hooked up, the ballast is glowing red too. Any ideas?
I picked up a 39 Ford dash for my model A project and when stripping it out I found a resistor that looked OEM so I looked up a wiring diagram for a 39 Ford. It shows a resistor in the ignition circut! I have only used resistors in 12 volt systems whe using a coil that is marked "use with external resistor". I thought the resistor was to drop the voltage down to 6 to 7 volts when used in a 12 v system. If you are talking about a 6v car just use a 6 volt coil with no resistor. (Like I have done with both of my 6 volt cars.) This makes me wonder why do you need a 6 volt coil for a 6volt car? why can't you just use a 12 volt coil, it will only see 6 to 7 volts anyway.
Yeah thanks, that's what I thought too, it's running the stock bell diver so not sure what voltage the coil is suppose to be, someone else has had a go at wiring the car so I'll have to start from scratch, but according to the wiring diagram there is a resistor in the circuit. I'll try without it and see how we go. Cheers for the replies
Never run into that, but almost sounds to me like the coil has a direct short in it to be pulling the voltage down that much and making the resistor glow.
That makes me think that the points are closed or the resistor would not glow. Did you start the engine? It's possible that you don't even have a problem.
I have never messed with a '32 Ford. Are you hot wiring it to start or using the stock wiring.? Always best to find a wiring Schematics for the '32. Back in 60 & 70's, when down to zero, I always used 8 Volt Battery. Tractor Supply should have. When I got the car started, I would set the Voltage Regulator up to charge battery better. Most of the younger generation have never heard of it. Most want to change to 12 Volt. That is O K if you are building a Hot Rod.
Those old flathead V-8 coils were designed to run on a bit over 3 volts. I do know from personal experence that full 6 V to the points will burn them up ,as said make sure no shorts in the dist.
Cool thanks for all the info, the car belongs to my local dr, he restores them to original and he has a reproduction original spec wiring harness in the car, he set the dizzy up on the bench before fitting it, I asked him how confident he was with the setup and he seemed pretty positive it was right, we didn't get the car started so it could be as simple as closed points, I only get one day every two weeks to help him out so I think we will start at the start, firing order, point gap, etc. he's got another complete dizzy that he gets rebuilt in the states and sent back to him so maybe we try that next too. Thanks for all the help!
1932 did indeed use a resistor, same one as used up through 1948. Resistor can get hot, but glowing red seems a bit much. ***uming you have decent quality parts, ignore all the mystery and need to "set up" for now; just set the points to spec with feeler gauge and use ruler method (I believe I have posted that system for early distributors, it's a bit different than the well known one for '42-up). Proper timing will be right around center of scale, which should be close enough in itself to get the thing lit! Be aware the most early Ford coils, even NOS ones, are shot. They can be rebuilt. I would suggest getting a conversion plate so you can run a modern coil easily, and since those plates are probably a long ways off from where you live just split a spare stocker along the parting line and solder up connections to the primary spring and the wire to carbon. This site from Mac VanPelt has a nice representation of firing order: http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/FH_images/FH_engine-pics/Flathead_Distrbtr-wiring-1932-36.jpg
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