Skip White Distributor install by a dummy, with ?'s

[hinkdart]

First off I'm inexperienced but usually able to follow directions even if it takes me forever to do so. I have a K10 pickup that I dropped in a Street Fighter distributor and it made a world of difference over the stock distributor in my 86. My 72 Dart runs well but only gets 10 mpg's and with 2.76 gears doesn't have the power I would expect from a replacement 360. All this was done by previous owner so I'm unsure of the specifics of the engine but I was told it was a crate engine but he was an idiot. Base timing was 35 degrees when I got it and I immediately set it to 13 for starters. 13 because thats where it ended up and ran smoother with more power and better fuel economy. Ran out of gas the second day I had it...... before I set timing.

Ok so I bought the Skip White off Ebay for $55 shipped. The directions couldn't be simpler or more vague. It literally states connect 2 wires. Red to positive side of coil and black to negative, check. I had two wires connected to the positive side of the coil and one to the negative.

1. I'm assuming one is for power and the other is for the Tach? Do i just leave these 2 hooked up and add the 3rd from the new distributor? I also had one hooked up to the ground, leave it hooked up?

The old rotor was pointed at about 8:30. When I dropped in the skip white it is pointed more at 7:30. I was trying to avoid pulling the plugs and finding tdc, laziness I know.

2. Should I be alarmed by this? I put the spark plug wires in the same place as the old distributor. The old cap is marked with numbers written in by hand but I did them one at a time.

3. Do I have to bypass the Ballast resistor? I would like to clean up the firewall, especially if I decide to keep the car and paint it. Or can I just remove it? I"m a little fuzzy there. Why would I have to bypass it if i can just remove it???

4. Last question is on the e-core coil. I'm assuming that if i just use my blaster 2 I'm not getting the full spark out of the distributor and it might overheat? I really didn't want to spend another $70 but I'm already in for a penny..... Any recommendations on a coil? I could get one from Amazon and have it here by saturday which is when I need to have the dart up and running again. Car show saturday night. Thanks in advance

ps I didn't put up any pics because it is a pain as I have to use photobucket on my phone and I don't think it helps much for this issue

 

[BillGrissom]

I don't know 1986 engine wiring. Was that the "lean burn" system?

1. A tach should come off coil-. Coil+ is supply (after ballast), so your extra wire is probably supplying something else (emissions device) or to a capacitor (noise suppression for radio). Check a wiring diagram. On coil- side, remove the existing wire (should go to your factory ignition module).

2. You might need new plug wires with HEI. If so, Magnum engine ones are labelled for cylinder, which is nice. They probably also fit the cap on your HEI distributor. Don't you have a crank mark for TDC? If so, remove #1 plug and feel for the compression stroke with your finger. You will have to initially set the distributor by eye. It sparks when the "pickup fingers" align, but won't actually spark unless turning fairly fast. The Crane XR700 pickup I use in several cars is "DC accurate", so you just turn the distributor until the LED light first comes on to indicate "spark" position. Set it at TDC initially or maybe 10 deg BTDC if you feel lucky.

3. Yes, bypass the ballast with a jumper wire or spade-spade terminal between the connectors. Then remove the ballast since it will have no wires on it. If you simply disconnect the wires, you will have no supply to coil+.

4. I bought Skip White's e-core coil for $20. I also paid $45 for his distributor, which was the price I recently saw on ebay. A coil from a Magnum engine is an e-core and doesn't use a ballast. Just snip off the connector to wire it, but check a diagram for correct polarity of the 2 wires. It will spark either way, but one polarity will burn up the spark plug ground electrodes. The coil sits at the front of Magnum engines, which makes me think that is needed to keep it cool. The GM "external coil" (85-95 V-8 ) and Ford TFI coil are similar choices, but perhaps harder to wire. The GM coil has an integral tach output which might be useful to some. See megasquirt site for more info.

 

[hinkdart]

k thanks. Sound like i was on the right track but I don't have time to wait for their coil to arrive by mail. Besides I can't find it on Ebay or on their site. I really want to get one for Saturday so I can cruise without switching back to the old distributor. Then again I did use MSD wires from my K10 that were in pretty good shape so I could just pull the distributor and install the old one plus the old wires.

Anything from Napa that I could ask for?

 

[hinkdart]

Called Napa and the guy was useless, that is the final straw. I ended up calling skip white and found the right coil on Ebay. I ordered it up and it will be here next week. Kills me not to be able to drive my car so I'll rip out the new distributor and install the old. Its a pain in the butt because of the coil is in the way but not for long....

should have got a BB