How many volts to coil?

[Toney]

How many volts should I be getting to the positive side of ign coil, after the ballast resistor, as of now I am reading 12v, it's for an l18 in a 510. Having trouble staring up I am getting fuel and spark and have adjusted timing several times and it does not want to fire up thanks!

[Tristin]

Check your plug order and when you adjusted timing did you remove the dizzy at all? Make sure that its not 180* out .

[Toney]

I removed the distributor and checked plug order, on TDC the rotor is 90* from the cam head.

 

Is the rotor supposed to be on the #1 point when cap is on, or should it be right edits the point?(if that makes sense)

 

The ballast resistor is not stepping down the 12v to the coil, I am reading 12.6v at +coil

[Tristin]

Remove the dizzy (not just the cap) and while youre at TDC, make sure the shaft is at 11:28. 

[brodster]

Toney, 

 

Under which conditions are you seeing 12.6V at coil (ie. Is this when the ignition switch in the On position, Start etc.?) Also what is the voltage before and after the resistor?

 

That should give us enough info to figure this out.

[Toney]

Ok ill redo the dizzy, now on the coil situation I am reading 12.4 before ballast resistor, 12.4 after resistor this is a freshly charged battery and new ballast resistor,coil, cap and rotor and getting a fairly strong spark with ignition on

[H5WAGON]

Is this car a daily driver or are you just getting it going?   Big difference to why its not starting, not the voltage. :confused:

[Toney]

It's a project not in a huge rush to get it done but it is almost there and want to get this thing goin

[H5WAGON]

Like stated above Dist. might be 180 out....meaning 1 is where 4 should be...or you have them going the wrong direction.

You said you have spark so...it just not getting where it needs to go at the right time.

We love pics...post a pic of your bay!

 

Chances are spindle is correct....old stock motor or something someone messed with and now you have it?

It's hard to tell. Get everything all lined up to top dead center.....It's something simple.

[brodster]

Ok ill redo the dizzy, now on the coil situation I am reading 12.4 before ballast resistor, 12.4 after resistor this is a freshly charged battery and new ballast resistor,coil, cap and rotor and getting a fairly strong spark with ignition on

I agree with the others that you are just way out on timing. Here's my thoughts:

 

If you are getting 12.4 before and 12.4 V after the resistor, this means that no current is flowing through it (Voltage=Current*Resistance).This will happen when you are starting your engine because the resistor is bypassed or when the points are open, engine is off, ignition is on (ie. open switch between coil and ground). I would suspect that if you turned your engine to a point where the points are closed, you would see a voltage drop. But it is generally not good to leave the points closed and the ignition ON for the health of the coil.

 

But since you are getting good spark, I would think it is just a timing problem.

[Toney]

Ok great thanks a lot for the info guys, I need to check timing again, however doesn't the ballast step-down the voltage about 1v? Should I attempt to replace the resistor?

 

And will post pics eventually I work off my iPhone and its annoying uploading pics and then photobucket and what not, ill get to it hehe

[Tristin]

Yes the resistor will step down voltage but only once the car is running. To aide getting the car started, that resistor is bypassed so the full voltage reaches the dizzy. Once its running, its no longer bypassed and the lower voltage will adequately keep the car firing. 

[Toney]

Thanks again! Ill update tomorrow if I get time to get my hands on the dime

[banzai510(hainz)]

If you are getting 12.4 before and 12.4 V after the resistor, this means that no current is flowing through it??????????

 

You sure about that?

 

Toney make sure you have the crrect resistance ballast and coil. 1.6 or close to it for the ballast and the coil should be close to 1.6. these are stock specs. if you have a slight variation this will still be OK.

 

My pertronix set up I think I will notice a voltage drop with key On , motor running or not  after my ballast resisitor.  so the above staemant might be TRUE as the volt meter is grounded and not the Coil circut of the points are open. But I think ohms law would still pertain to a voltage meter ground as a reference.

 

 

with any new junker 510 ones finds I would alwasy ck the motor at TDC and see where the rotor or oil spindal lines up at to give a referernce.

 

olddatsuns.com is a good site to ck out. the tech section.

 

http://vimeo.com/19077890

[Silky_Johnson]

If you are getting 12.4 before and 12.4 V after the resistor, this means that no current is flowing through it??????????

 

You sure about that?

 

Toney make sure you have the crrect resistance ballast and coil. 1.6 or close to it for the ballast and the coil should be close to 1.6. these are stock specs. if you have a slight variation this will still be OK.

 

My pertronix set up I think I will notice a voltage drop with key On , motor running or not  after my ballast resisitor.  so the above staemant might be TRUE as the volt meter is grounded and not the Coil circut of the points are open. But I think ohms law would still pertain to a voltage meter ground as a reference.

 

 

with any new junker 510 ones finds I would alwasy ck the motor at TDC and see where the rotor or oil spindal lines up at to give a referernce.

 

olddatsuns.com is a good site to ck out. the tech section.

 

http://vimeo.com/19077890

 

Haha!  Hainz, you should just put that video, or a link to the video, in your signature so you don't have to keep posting it.  Or maybe there should be a thread for, "If you can't start your car, watch this first" or something.  (This next part is me channeling Hainz)  Be honest.  You must get tired of telling everyone to watch it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[banzai510(hainz)]

No, I wish I made it better.

[Toney]

Banzai, thanks for that, I'm going to go over timing again cause that seems to me that's the issue and if I have to ill get a new ballast resistor(I don't understand how those could go bad if they do)

 

Another question is the two wires from the alternator, where exactly would those link up to, the previous owner of harness has quick release connectors about 1' from the alternator, and not sure where they need to go. Thanks

[banzai510(hainz)]

best to show a photo of this if possible.

 

which wires. Theres the t connector

then theres the + output of the alt wht/ red wire

then the other wire is chassis/ground.

 

 

if your sparking, and think its timmed right ck the valve lash also. if should try to start fire off/pop ect....

[Toney]

 

 

 

 

 

this is what it looks like at top dead center, is the rotor off? considering the arrow on rotor points at 9:30 or so

[Toney]

Finally figured out pics!  :rofl:

[brodster]

If you are getting 12.4 before and 12.4 V after the resistor, this means that no current is flowing through it??????????

 

The statement above is ALWAYS TRUE. But this assumes the measurements were taken accurately. From the given information, I would assume the engine was not running. I am also assuming both measurments were taken from ground as a reference. Of course the equipment is not 100% precise, so these conclusions are approximations to some degree.

 

But clearly, from Ohm's law, the voltage dropped across a pure resistance is equal to the amount of resistance multiplied by the amount of current flowing through it. If we assume a finite resistance, e.g 1.6 ohms, then in order for there to be no voltage across it, this would require 0A to be flowing through it. (12.4V-12.4V=0V). 0V=1.6ohms x current. Current=0A.

 

Also I believe I did state that this could be caused by the coil not connected to ground (ie, points open or starting).

 

Like you mentioned, once the engine is running, the game changes, but I was unaware it was even running yet.

[brodster]

Also, the ballast resistors can go bad. It is simply a coil of wire with ceramic insulation around it. I have had the ceramic get all cracked up. The coils tend to corrode a bit. But again, I would suspect you have a bad resistor.

 

Get that timing set to spec and let us know how it goes.

[Toney]

Yes thanks, I started the engine a few months back, it ran fine, but now idk what happened except things mentioned by you guys that I will check out.

Does the timing look alright? And should I set the rotor directly on the #1point?

[brodster]

Yes thanks, I started the engine a few months back, it ran fine, but now idk what happened except things mentioned by you guys that I will check out.

Does the timing look alright? And should I set the rotor directly on the #1point?

Toney,

 

I don't want to come off as an ass with this question, but in the photos are you sure that you are at TDC on the compression stroke, not the exhaust stroke?

 

Also you said that you pulled the dizzy at some point right? Did you keep track of the dizzy position and crank position while it was off?

 

Just trying to fully eliminate the possibility that the dizzy is simply way out of position.

[Toney]

I appreciate you bearing with me, how do I know what stroke its on?

 

I in fact did not keep track of where it was at when I pulled it off unfortunately, I did not know, and unfortunately I don't have anyone to help me with this that's why I'm on here.

 

Can someone point me in the direction of how I can re-position this dizzy, I tried turnin it 180* and its at 5 o clock what did I do wrong?, thanks