Points ignition

[tanusfarms]

Ok folks i'll be honest here i'm new to the ford scene. just bought my first ford truck. Needless to say it has some issuses. I have a 70 cab and wiring with a 75 everything else minus bed (has a dump box on it). the truck has a 360 in it. The trucks wiring harness in the engine compartment was butchered when the previous owner did the cab swap and i am now missing most of the harness connectors. I purchased a points distributors and coil from a local junk yard and did what i thought would need to be done to wire it in. I don't think I did it correctly at all. Can someone please help walk me through how to correctly set up the point distributor system from scratch. Please keep in mind I will more then likely have to rerun the wires to it myself instead of useing factory. If i could get a simple easy to read diagram of what needs to connect from where to where, thats all i think i really need. I tried going off of the master wiring diagram but i think the factory wiring can't be trusted on my rig. Thanks for any help with this it is greatly apprechiated.

[speed bump]

You should have a 12V line coming from the ignition switch on position to the coil, then a wire that runs from the distributor to the coil, and your done.

[fordman]

here are the diagrams for the 70. the pink wire for the ignition is a resistor wire and has to be there in a points truck. in a duraspark truck you bypass or remove the resistor wire from the ignition circut.

[fordman]

http://www.fordification.com/tech/wirin ... master.jpg

[tanusfarms]

Ok so heres an update on what i know. I found a tanish color wire( i suppose i could be pink but just dirty from the work that was done) that when the key is on has power when the key is off it has none. When cranking it appears to have less power. I haven't been able to put a multi-meter to it yet to verify exactly how many volts at what stage but i'm pretty sure this is my resistance wire. none of the wires near this wire have power while cranking. i was advised to verify exactly what year wiring i have by looking at the dash cluster harness connector, small problem with that. yep you guessed it no dash cluster or harness. they swapped it out for aftermarket gauges but never fully finished the job. when i connected a wire from the positive terminal of the battery to the coil and crank the engine with the resistance wire still connected. (goal being have 2nd person remove battery wire if truck started) truck never started. i was not able to confirm spark being present. could i have a faulty coil? if so can i swap out the coil for one that was origonally with a electronic ignition system or is the coil different? does any one see anything i am missing here? thanks for the help! by the way wire colors on this rig don't help me much for 2 reasons 1) i am partly color blind 2) the previous owner subbed wires with what ever he had on hand. so if you can reffer me to starting and ending destinations that would be alot more helpful. thank you again.

[fordman]

oh man what a mess this sounds like. the tan wire is probably the pink resistor wire and the color may have faded a little. but with the Reading you are getting it sounds right too. ok the pink resistor wire is green to start with and turns to pink near the firewall. it is joined by a brown wire that comes from the starter relay on the inner fender. when you turn the key this sends power for both wires to the coil. and gives you an extra boost of power. a full 12 volts to start. so if you are getting a full 12 volts to the coil at start up. if you are getting power to the coil and the coil has no spark the next thing i would check is to make sure the coil has a good ground. if it seems good and isn't dirty or rusty. then you could try another coil to get spark out of it. once you get spark out of the coil then it is time to move on to the points and condenser. if you see spark jumping at the points you know they are working. if there is no spark you can check the condenser ground and the points for proper complete operation. the gap should be 17 on the points.

ok now if you are not getting power to the coil. you will want to recheck the pink wire and the brown wire to find out where they are cut or disconnected in the wiring. i am looking at a 69 wiring diagram on my end. the wire number 16 is the pink resistor wire. it turns into wire 16A which goes to the ignition switch. wire number 262 is the brown wire that comes from the starter relay and goes directly to the pink resistor wire. the brown wire goes to the small rear terminal on the starter relay. not the front terminal. i mixed those up once myself.

some other stuff you can look at to determine wire years and system type. there should be some sort of white tag on the main harness around the fuse box with a part number on it. the part number will say something like c7 c8 c9 d0 d1 d2. those numbers tell you what year the harness was made for basically. also on the passenger side there are three plugs either inside the firewall or outside the firewall. those plugs will either be 2 four wire connectors and 1 2 wire connector. or 3 four wire connectors. if it has 3 four wire connectors the truck originally had a full gauge instrument cluster. if it had the 2 four wire plugs and the single 2 wire plug then the truck originally had dummy lights In the cluster and that would explain the extra aftermarket wiring and gauges. let us know what you figure out.

[BobbyFord]

If it were me, I'd figure out exactly what you need and find an unmolested wire loom and gauge panel and swap it out all the way to the headlamps.

[tanusfarms]

I do plan on swapping out the wiring loom but i won't have any cash flow to do so for another 2 to 3 months. In the mean time i have twin 4 yr old boys that every time they look out into the pasture and see this truck sitting there; they want a ride in it. they don't understand why i can't. It breaks my heart to see them cry because i can't drive them around the farm in "their" dump truck.

i have to work this afternoon but i will try to get out and look into the wiring some more either this morning or tomorrow. by the way as if this truck wasn't interesting enough the way its built already I belive i found out last night it has a 68-69 ranger grill on its 70 cab thats on its 75 frame. SO when someone asks what year this thing is what exactly am i supposed to tell them?

[Redcap]

I do plan on swapping out the wiring loom but i won't have any cash flow to do so for another 2 to 3 months. In the mean time i have twin 4 yr old boys that every time they look out into the pasture and see this truck sitting there; they want a ride in it. they don't understand why i can't. It breaks my heart to see them cry because i can't drive them around the farm in "their" dump truck.

i have to work this afternoon but i will try to get out and look into the wiring some more either this morning or tomorrow. by the way as if this truck wasn't interesting enough the way its built already I belive i found out last night it has a 68-69 ranger grill on its 70 cab thats on its 75 frame. SO when someone asks what year this thing is what exactly am i supposed to tell them?

I call them by the grill, since that is the most distinguishing feature.

[tanusfarms]

Ok i was able to get out and work on it some more today. Before redoing any of my wiring i did some testing i do have spark at the coil wire and at the plug. so i looked at how i wired it compared to how it was supposed to be wired it actually appears to be correct. I hadn't noticed that the wire from the starter relay that fordman was reffering to actually gets eliminated when it joins the resistance wire i kept looking just to see them in the same loom. so i now know i have spark but it still won't start. that means i'm not getting gas. this truck had sat for a few years without starting. it has a aftermarket 4 barrel edelbrock carb on it. I know the fuel pump is working. what is the easiest way to clean out the carb? I also need to verify my timing is correct, i assumede the previous owner had it correct. it would be wise of me to ensure that it is personally. again thanks for the help guys.

[fordman]

dump some fuel down the carb and see if it will start. if it starts spray some carb cleaner in it and on it. the only other way to clena i tup is to take it apart as far as i know.

[tanusfarms]

I got it running finnally thank for all the help guys. Now on to all the other things that are noticeable now that its moving.