Cambob23 Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Hello all, great forum. This might have been answered in another thread (and if so, please let me know). I am working on a 1949 Chrysler Windsor and am having some issues with spark. It is a positive earth, 6 volt system (stock), and all of what's left of the wiring is original I am trying to make sure I can get my engine running with minimal wiring (going to replace the wiring in the spring). For the battery/starter: I have the positive lead connected to the block with a )) gauge wire and the negative going to the starter lug in the 5 o'clock position. There are 2 smaller connections for the starter, one in the 10 o'clock position that goes to earth, and one in the 2 o'clock position that goes to negative. When I complete the circuit outlined above, the starter runs and the engine spins. Now, for spark, my coil (brand new) is connected to earth off the positive side, and to negative off of the negative side, the center connection goes tot he center of the cap. The distributor has new points and a new condenser (points set at .018). There is a little screw on the side of the distributor that when I hook it up to negative, it sparks. The diagram shows this wire connecting to the coil on the same side as a black wire that runs to ignition on the Circuit breaker and resistor block. Does this sound correct? Should this be negative or positive? I would assume (I know what happens when you assume) that this will need a negative connection since the distributor gets Positive from its earth connection. I have looked at the wiring diagram in the shop manual, and I have followed all of my wires and still can't seem to get spark. Any ideas? Also, just to add, I have replaced my plus as well, and I am going to test out/replace my wires next. I hate crimping my own wires, but that seems to be the only way to get them for this vehicle. Thanks everyone, and once again, great forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Make sure the terminal on the distributor is insulated where it goes through thebody of the distributor. In side the distributor, assure the thin flexible wire that connects to the points is intact and not grounding to the body. This wire allows the breaker plate to move as advance mechanisms work. It flexes a lot. It may look ok on the outside, but inside the insulation, strands can break from fatigue from years of flexing. These wires are available from NAPA if you have access to them. Newer points sets are pretty much low quality. The springs that open the the points have been found to have inadequate tension to do the job. You can by pass the ignition switch circuits with a jumper wire to see if there are continuity issues with the switch. Take a 6 foot lengths of 10 or 12 gauge wire out alligator clips on each end. Power the neg terminal on the coil directly to the neg post of the battery. The alligator clip will allow you to shut of the engine by unclipping the alligator from the battery. If you get it to fire with the hot wire, then likely the fault is in the switch or power to the switch or power from the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Your car if it has the semiauto transmission also has connections through the carburetor and transmission that also may be causing problems. The kick down switch that calls for full throttle downshifts also has a connection to ground to kill the coil. This provides for a momentary slacking of the drive line to allow the tension to be released so the trans can drop down. The jumper wire should take that out of the equation for temporary start up but it will need to be addressed to achieve proper driving shifting operations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Another source for good information on your car is the Imperial Club website. Their repair section has good stuff for cars with semi auto transmissions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambob23 Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Awesome, Thank you Greg G. I am new to older 6 volt cars (usually work on Chevy muscle cars, nice and easy wiring on those, but I guess it's all relative to what you are use to). I do have the automatic/manual Fluid drive transmission. I am bypassing everything and only making those connections: Positive to block for earth Negative to the starter (5 o'clock position) A lead from the solenoid trigger (2 o'clock position) that I connect to Negative to attempt to start the vehicle A lead from the solenoid trigger (10 o'clock position) that I connect to Positive to attempt to start the vehicle Positive and negative on the coil that I connect to their respective leads to try to start the vehicle A lead from the distributor Side terminal (the problem child) - that should go to negative No driveshaft in place, so I'm not fighting the car to start it. A nice Optima battery (6 volt of course). I did replace that jumper wire inside of the distributor with one that I made as it was really frayed (no insulation at all in some spots) and I did replace the points and condenser. My next step it sounds like would be to check that distributor again and make sure I don't have an errant grounding issue in there. Also going to make new plug wires and test the new and old ones. Thank you for the leads in what to look for. I'll post what I find in a couple of days. I'll also look around the Imperial Club website. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 You realize that if the points are closed you will get a spark trying to hook up to the distributor, but the question I have is why are you doing wiring with the electrical system hot? You should disconnect the battery any time you are fooling with wiring so you don't self inflict addition issues, DAMHIK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soth122003 Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Check the cap and rotor for arcing and scoring. Also when ordering parts for the distributor, order by the distro number and not the engine size. Joe Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambob23 Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 I am only connecting the power when I am trying to start (holding the wires in my hands with my feet in a tub of water --- JUST KIDDING ). I have definitely ruined some electrical items in my younger days (when I was less patient). I have a momentary switch for testing everything. I disconnected power before wiring up. It looks like there is a earth grounding that is occurring in the system. I tried a new rotor , but not a new cap. I think that I have to take the distributor back out and do some of the simple checks with my multimeter to see if I can find an issue. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJK Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 I'm confused on your coil connections. + on the coil goes to the distributor, and negative is from ignition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambob23 Posted January 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 I think DJK has it. I think this is user error on my part. Once again, my first time working on a vehicle with points (use to HEI), but still not an excuse. I will try the correct configuration in a couple of days (super cold out this weekend) and report back. Thank you all again for your assistance (this is a great community here). Next time I'll RTFM a little bit better 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muganic Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 20 hours ago, DJK said: I'm confused on your coil connections. + on the coil goes to the distributor, and negative is from ignition. Second that 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambob23 Posted January 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) Yup, user error. So, with the distributor connected to the positive side of the coil, and negative on the coil being controlled by ignition, I get spark (nice strong spark too). I used 2 wires to trigger the starter trough a momentary switch, and the negative to the coil I had set up with a flip switch. With these in place I was able to get the motor to start and run for a few seconds, which is all I really wanted to do before the deep freeze of winter hits here in NY. All new wiring starts in the spring! Thank you all very much for your help, and for not making me feel like a total idiot (I am pretty good at doing that on my own ?). Once again, great forum, and thank you all for the help from this 6V/non-hei newbie. Edited January 25, 2021 by Cambob23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted January 25, 2021 Report Share Posted January 25, 2021 What area of NY are you in? Glad you made some progress.are you buying a harness or making your own? If you are staying 6v, remember 6v likes thick wires and good grounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cambob23 Posted January 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2021 Rockland County (Southern NY state, right above NJ). We don't start to get really cold outside until about now.. Unlike upstate that gets colder in December (and sometimes earlier). I can't find a decent new harness out there that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I am building my own and I definitely going oversized on my wiring. I learned that by reading about the importance of 00 battery cables. I also plan to run one wire at a time and label both ends. Might not be pretty, but once I get it all tidied up in wire looms I hope it will look nice enough. As a side note, I know that a lot of the original wiring was all copper, not this copper cladded wiring that they make now, so with that I am going a size higher than I would with each wire (12 gauge in most spots, some thicker). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted January 26, 2021 Report Share Posted January 26, 2021 You might look at some of the basic universal kits with 8 to 12 circuits. These will address your basic stuff and allow add ons as needed for accessories or later up grades. There are several available in the 300.00 neighborhood. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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