Kind of urgent: Duraspark conversion

[deadatmind]

Tried to upgrade to Duraspark today, had a few problems though.

First off, its an 85 Bronco II 2.8. Stock everything besides the new distributor. I spliced the blue/red wires from the two plugs to the white wire on the module. Then the thick green one with red on module, + on coil, and the green/red wire. Lastly, the - on the coil from the module. Here's where things get kind of.... meh.

I had the resistor from the original coil on the + and then grounded. To add to that, it was a Blaster II coil. The truck fired up all nice the first time without being timed. Ran extremely smooth being not timed. I shut her off so we could find the timing light and finish it up. When we went to start it back up, no spark and the coil was extremely hot. Ripped that puppy out and went back to Schucks (O'Riellys) and talked to Phil (GuruMaster5000). He said since its not an MSD box something about the low impedance stuff will kill the coil and then you discover the whole ignition system is bad now.

So with that, I opted to get a $25 "Premium" coil. I asked about a resistor on the positive and he provided me with a 5.5ohm ballast resistor to put in-line on the positive. Went back home, put in the new coil and resistor, and tried again. Nothing. Then smoke came from the resistor so I scrapped that and just ran the wire straight to the coil. Now, this is where things get REALLY screwy. When I turn my key on, the rear parking lights come on, but not the front and pressing the breaks does nothing now. Also, when I press the breaks with key off, my center dash lights come on and there's a clicking coming from some component on a vacuum line. This is where we called it quits for the night since its almost O out and snow was coming down on my truck with no hood.

Any insight to this? I used the tutorial in the Tech Library here. I was thinking, would it just be better to buy a 6AL MSD box and hook the trigger up to the distributor and a new blaster coil? Or should I just save the money and go with a new module and go the cheap route?

Thanks for reading my huge post, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Don't go by color so much on your splicing as function. On/off with the key... that sort of thing.

Mine works great with the stock coil and no resistor.

 

[deadatmind]

Don't go by color so much on your splicing as function. On/off with the key... that sort of thing.

Mine works great with the stock coil and no resistor.

I think I figured it out. Looking over the diagram at the bottom of the conversion article, I realized I didn't take the 4 wire plug wire and add it to the 2 wire plug blue/red. I'll fix that and give it a shot again tomorrow morning. Guess I shouldn't drink while following wiring diagrams...

 

[Hotrodlincoln]

An MSD box isn't going to help you any here.

I had the resistor from the original coil on the + and then grounded.

What exactly did you ground? The resistor should just be inline to the coil. Power wire on one side, other side hooked to coil +. No ground.

 

[The_Dealer]

I think I figured it out. Looking over the diagram at the bottom of the conversion article, I realized I didn't take the 4 wire plug wire and add it to the 2 wire plug blue/red. I'll fix that and give it a shot again tomorrow morning. Guess I shouldn't drink while following wiring diagrams...

i did the same thing, DO NOT wire the green wire going into the cab into the plug when u are wiring it. its for the brake light switch. sounds like your box burnt up. go swap it out, wire it right, then try again. i burnt up 3 modules and they told me this was the last one i could get. i had my wiring all jacked up

heres how it should go...

splice red/lt blue from 4 wire plug into red/lt blue in the two wire plug

there is another gray 4 wire plug with a red/lt green wire in it, cut and splice red light green with the green on the 2 wire plug with the red/lt blue. tape off the body end of the green wire, u only need the plug parts wire in there. also run that same wire to the +(batt) side of the coil

heres the diagram from tech library

this should get u running

 

[texanatc]

Maybe you masters can help with a simple diagram. I understand using the harness but I removed everything and just need a simple one. Basically a simple starting and running configuration,i.e batt to duraspark box and ground, coil wiring, tach, all using no harness.

This is my project. 1985 B2 with 1977 VW beetle body on top.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

The simple way is to use the stock tfi coil run hot key on red/grn to pos on the coil and red on the module, run a wire from the start wire from the ignition to the start solenoid to the white on the module, green from the module to the neg on the coil and the three wires to the dizzy color to color. It dont get any simpler you can get a aftermarket round coil that runs on battery voltage and scrap the resistor all together but the TFI coil will give you all the spark you will ever need for the 2.8 and the heat range will be correct for the stock motorcraft or autolite single platinum plugs. If you have the overdrive tranny you can switch it manually or use a pressure switch but manual with a light makes more sense to me. There is a better schematic on one of the more recent posts let me try and find it.