Technical No Spark

Hi all,
This is a new build using a Mallory magnetic distributor 5072001 with a PerTronix flame thrower 1.5 ohm coil. It is wired as the attached wire diagram. I have a 1ohm ballast resistor. I have no spark. I have tested the distributor as per the testing instructions and it’s working fine. Could it be that I need a Mallory 1.4 ohm coil. Any help is appreciated.

 

I'm a points guy, but what happens when you bypass that resistor?

 

If you have it wired per the drawing, disconnect the green wire and see if you get a pulsing signal on a voltmeter when the distributor is turned. If you do, I'd be looking at the coil or the power supply to the coil.

 

Bypass the Resistor.







Also - not sure if this is the same with the Mallory, but Pertronix doesn't like some of the older RPM meters. If it turns out that this is a problem, you can get a inline filter from Classic instruments.

 

maybe you ought to find the wiring instructions for your distirbutor, not for an optical distributor?

perhaps it's different. Since I think it requires an amplifier, while the Unilite has the amp built in.

 

That distributor came with a “Power Cell” when new that is wired inline. Do you have that installed?
Seems to be a problematic setup.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...r-cell-failure-autopsy-what-to-do-now.993815/

 

If your using 12 volts you shouldn't need a ballast resistor. That may be a low voltage situation.

 

I wanted to thank everyone for your help. I jumped out the ballast resistor and I got spark!!! It turns out the the PerTronix coil will only fire when the voltage is at 11.50V and greater. Anything less than and the coil would stop firing. I ordered the proper Mallory coil. This was a really good troubleshooting lesson. Thanks again!!!

 

Thanks for coming back and letting us know what you found.