I got a 39 flatty that I just installed a coil adapter from Mac’s.. I was running a stock helmet coil, but took a dump so I installed this... well hooked it all up.. power going to the positive, - down to the adapter.. the coil I have on it now is just some old black coil (not sure if that’s the problem) Well no sparky!! I’ve tried running 12v to the coil.. nothing Did anyone ever have any issues on what coil they ran??? 6v 12v coils, condensers got me confused Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Point systems must run a condensers no matter the voltage or coil location. Today they are poor quality (aka Chinese). Many have gone to some type of electronic style for reliability and keep them as hidden as possible. I am not familiar with the flathead prior to 49.
Got a multi-meter? If so, you can do a preliminary check to see if the coil is OK. The resistance (ohms) should be in the range of 1.5 to 8 on the primary side (the two little terminals). It should be 8,000-12,000 ohms for the secondary side (terminal inside the coil tower and the coil body). The readings you get may be a little different depending on the coil and voltage you are running, but they should be in the neighborhood. Infinite ohms (usually shown as -1) indicates an open somewhere. Zero ohms indicates a short.
I have 1.5 on the primary side and 6500 on the secondary side... Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That's probably OK. You said the stock Helmet coil "took a dump"; how do you know that? It it smoke and melt? Perhaps something else in the ignition system failed; ignition switch, ballast resistor (if any), condenser, points fried from the key left on. The connections between the new coil adapter and the distributor are also suspect. Would it be possible to post some pictures? Also, from what you said, I assume you are running 12 vol;ts, but we're really not sure.
It has a new Bubba dizzy.... but It ran great cold.. warmed up starts to miss.. the hotter it got the worse.. that’s why I got the adapter. I should have just got another helmet coil! I’ve tried bypassing the resistor before coil.. nothing... I wonder if that cheap ass new condenser is bad? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That's the first thing I would replace; it's cheap and easy. From what I can see on your picture, the wires look like they're connected right.
You also might want to check and see if the points are working with your multi-meter. Hook up the black lead to a good ground on the engine. Hook the red lead to the primary wire going to the coil. Set the meter to the lowest ohm scale (on mine its 200 ohms; do not use the scales in the thousands). Turn the engine over (manually if you can) and watch the meter. it should move from between 1 or 2 ohms to 7 or 8 ohms as the points open and close. I did just this thing today to set the initial timing on an 8BA I was firing for the first time.; the coil will fire when the points open.
Well the spring on the adapter was sitting funny on the points cup, so it was grounding out in the case... it’s actually kinda long! Adjusted it and it runs like a champ!! Thank you for the reply’s!! [emoji106] Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Glad you got it fixed. I always appreciate it when someone comes back and gives us the results of their endeavors.
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