MSD Box and Voltage Regulator

[dilweed]

Trying to figure out if I'm on the right path.....

MSD 6AL Box
MSD Ready-to-Run Distrubutor
External Voltage Regulator

With the ballast resistor by-passed, I'm trying to find out what to do with all the other wires that used to connect to the ballast resistor...

Right now connecting to the (thin) 12v red wire from the MSD box, I'm planning to connect the following:
1. IGN1 from the ignition switch
2. IGN2 from the ignition switch
3. Blue wire from Voltage Regulator
4. Red wire from my Distributor
5. One of the Field wires from/to the Alternator

That seems like a lot of wires!

Thanks for any help.

 

[TrailBeast]

I cut mine all the way back to the harness, then taped it up.

 

[dilweed]

Thanks.
Looking to determine if I am to connect everything that was connected to the ballast resistor to the thin red wire of the MSD box. Anything that I am not using I'll remove/stub and tape-off.

Just not 100% sure that I should connect those specific 5 wires to the MSD box if I'm not supposed to. Start, run and distributor wires I think are supposed to be connected, but the external regulator wire and field wire from alternator I'm not completely sure.

 

[67Dart273]

Yes you sure as heck to need the regulator/ field wires

Basically, you had

1---dark blue "ignition run" (ign 1) power coming from the bulkhead

2-- brown "ignition bypass" (ign2) power in start from the bulkhead

These hooked to opposite ends of the ballast, IE the brown connected to the coil+ end of the ballast

Off the dark blue "run" are

ignition (resistor)

regulator

alternator field

electric choke if used

distributor retard solenoid if used

idle solenoid if used

maybe a couple of smog doo dads.

Your ignition 'run' is NOT hot in start. So in addition to splicing all that together, you need to add the brown to the mix, in order to get a hot signal to your red MSD wire during start.

While you have all this apart, it would be a good idea to check for harness voltage drop, which WILL cause an overvoltage (overcharge) condition. Hook everything up temporarily (wire nuts?) and turn the key to run, but engine off.

Set your meter to low DC volts, and hook one probe to the batter positive (starter relay stud) and the other probe to the alternator blue field wire. You are hoping to read a VERY low voltage not over .3V (three tenths of one volt) or so. Any more means the regulator will ADD that voltage to whatever it's setpoint is.

If you do read high with this test, you have a poor connection somewhere in the harness. Top suspects are the bulkhead connector, ignition switch connector, the switch, and in some cases, the ammeter circuit.

One way around that is to use a good quality Bosch style relay to operate ignition/ regulator loads, that is, use the dark blue to trigger the relay, feed the relay power from the start relay stud, and pull all loads off of that.

Be careful working with this, because the dark blue IS NOT FUSED

 

[dilweed]

Thanks 67Dart!

Sounds like I may be on the right path. I've also removed all the factory wiring and replaced with a Painless Universal kit, so the wiring colors will also throw me off a bit.

Original installation was:
-One side of the ballast resistor had two wires: one to/from IGN2 and one to/from COIL +.
-Other side of ballast resistor had four wires: one to/from IGN1, one to/from VOLTAGE REGULATOR (BLUE), one to/from ALTERNATOR FIELD, and the last to/from the ORANGE BOX (BLACK w/YELLOW).
-The VOLTAGE REGULATOR had BLUE to ballast resistor, and GREEN to the ALTERNATOR FIELD.

So my simple thought was just anything that was connected to the ballast resistor would now be grouped together and connected to the red of the MSD box, along with including IGN2 (and one wire from new distributor). COIL + isn't in the group as it now comes directly from the new box.

Thanks again!