Never say "It can't get any worse"... Unilite, plugs, wires, etc.. need help...

My Dad had problems with a UniLite dizzy on a '72 Vette. Had to replace the optical pick up and it was still garbage. Went to a magnetic pickup dizzy and had no more problems.

I've never used one because of it.

 

Well, now I'm wondering if the Unilite is creating all these peripheral issues. Killing wires and plugs not firing hot enough. I'll try to make small fixes first, but if the dizzy has to go, it's gone...

 

Your "Master Mechanic" buddy has no clue. Cars haven't had solid core wires for MANY years, basically ever since electronic ignitions came into play. This is due to the RFI (radio frequency interference) and EMI (electromagnetic interference) that those wires transmit without putting resistors on both ends of the wire. ALL electronic ignition systems need protection from RFI and EMI or you can fry the module. Now someone will chime in and say they are running solid core wires with an electronic, but they are living on borrowed time.
As for heat, modern cars have much higher underhood temperatures than older cars and in many cases the wires are attached directly to the valve cover and in many cases are closer to the manifolds.
Resistor and Suppression wires are interchangeable names (don't confuse with the Resistance of the wire)

 

When installed as specified by mallory , the unilite is as trouble free as anything, mines been in for 32K miles & 13 years.... one of the reccomended coils is a mallory 29216 [which is what I have] canister type- 0.7 ohm resistance to be used w/ a ballast resistor. Plug wires generally don't go bad , the ends however can be damaged by rough handling , improper installation , excessive heat ,etc. You must run resistance[suppression] wires w/ a unilite . Since unilites either work or they don't , I'd suspect some other cause for your problems.. excessive blowby usually = poor ring seal ...possibly excessive fuel dilution of oil ??? These are just cars.. they're fixable..but you have to have a systematic approach to diagnosis , otherwise you're simply wasting time & money & causing undo exasperation.
dave

 

Excessive fuel dilution meaning "too much oil to fuel ratio"?

 

I have found two different instructions or recommendations from Mallory on the coil for unil lite
1.
All Unilite distributors need coils with a minimum amount of 1.4 Ohms primary resistance. Coils are 12 volts; however, they do have different amounts of primary resistance, which is measured in Ohms. You can still use a coil with less than 1.4 Ohms, but you must install a Ballast Resistor (Mallory #700) between the coil and the distributor, install on Red wire coming out of the Unilite distributor. It is Important to know that the Unilite distributor will work initially on the engine with less than 1.4 Ohm, BUT NOT FOR LONG. It only takes a short period of time to burn up the module using a coil with the wrong resistance.

2. Unilite distributors need 2.9 ohm resistance to operate properly

These both came off of two different isntructions for UniLite, So I'm not really sure not what they want

 

Meaning that if your carb has been malfunctioning , you could have washed down the rings and diluted the oil in the crankcase.

dave

 

Damn brilliant guys... don't know what I would do without my buddies on the HAMB.

To be safe I'm going to try to reach that 2.9 Ohm number.

I'll check the oil to see if I can see or smell gas in it.

 

Hotroddin , I just checked mallory site , the reccomended coils are 29440- 0.6 pri. resistance- 29265-0.5 pri. res. -29216- 0.7 pri. res. the 700 ballast resistor is rated .75-1.5 ohms resistance. ??????????????
dave

 

Now that Buzznut's problems are perty much settled I want to jump in on this thread about Chinese parts. I import car parts from China and sell them both locally and on e-bay. One thing I've learned about Chinese parts; they make them to your specs. If you want cheap **** to increase your profit margin they can do it. If you want good parts that you don't need to worry about they can do that. And sometimes you need to ***** about quality control, but not very often. So what I'm sayin' is cuss at the seller they are the ones that looked for the low quality parts to sell you.
You may have noticed I have not mentioned the name of my company. Not because I'm ashamed of my Chinese products, quite the opposite I'm proud of them. I didn't feel it fair to turn this into an adverti*****t. And yes when I get some time to get it done I will become an alliance member. Normal Norman

 

Damn, I'm just confused now....

They are?

 

I also run a Mallory Unilite distributor in my BBC. I have a MSD 6AL box ahead of it, but when I sent the MSD in for a repair, I was told by a knowledgeable friend that I should be careful about incoming voltages on the Unilite, as the modules in them are susceptible to voltage spikes. He said this is really common with alternator charging systems, and that the Unilite might fail if voltages got over about 12.7 vdc.
So while my MSD box was out for repair, I wired a regular old GM ballast resistor inline ahead of the coil to trim the voltage, and protect the Unilite distributor module. (the MSD does this as part of it's design) The Unilite ran just great without the MSD, and I didn't even notice a difference with or without the MSD box.
You might try a simple ceramic ballast resistor ahead of the coil for the Mallory, and see if that helps. They're only $8, so worth a try.

 

Listen if you're still chasing the ignition problems, and it's still not working correctly....again, look for valve seal/guide issues!
First, they will NOT show up on compression, or leakdown tests! These only tell you if you have good cylinder sealing (ring seating, and valve SEAT sealing) Once the intake valve opens, sealing is gone....but a worn guide will let oil go past it, and into the cylinder (if intake, or header, if exhaust)...also causing your smoking problem.
They are harder to find than a bad wire. Seals you cant really see, and the only way to check guides, is to remover the rocker, and wiggle them. If there is ANY clearance, they are gone. Just be sure you have that particular cylinder up on top dead center so you don't drop the valve into the cylinder.
and just because they were rebuilt doesn't mean ****! A lot of rebuilders with spot check a guide or 2 in each head, then rebuild it. That doesn't mean the other 14 are any good. And it is pretty expensive to replace guides, so budget head rebuilders don't' like to do it!
so look at your plugs and if any have a brown or black deposit on them check the guides. At this point I might even replace all the seals just for the hell of it.

 

I do have a ballast resistor inline between the coil and dizzy - the Mallory #700 (variable .75 to 1.5)...I would think that would be enough since that is what they recommend.

I will check the seals and guides. I know seals aren't too bad to replace, even with the heads still on the block, but if I'm needing guides I may just have a different set of heads rebuilt and installed - a set of 2.02 camel humps that I have laying around.