I cannot get spark from my old points condenser system, so I put in an electronic conversion. I placed the plastic (magnet?) Under the rotor. Distributor pointing to front of car. Number one and four line up with crank pulley. It has consistent spark, checked by pulling the lead, but will barely run, only loudly and very rough. Am I missing anything for the timing? I see the wiki says to line it up but I'm not sure I understand.

wiki discusses timing for unmodified distributors. which conversion have you done Hotspark or Pertronix?

a common problem, if runs but roughly -- is out of order wires it should be anticlockwise 1-3-4-2

This may be a silly question; have you actually checked the timing with a light? This is how mine behaves when I get the dizzy one tooth off.

Hi mate

When you say 1 and 4 line up

You need to set No:1 cylinder on TDC on compression stroke
To do this, turn engine over by hand with at least no:1 spark plug removed

Block no:1 spark plug hole with finger as you turn motor over, by hand not with starter motor

You should hear and feel pressure building and trying to push past your finger that is blocking the hole, cylinder No:1 is now coming up towards TDC compression stroke.

If you have rocker cover off at same time, probably also see it through oil cap hole
Both valves will be closed, ( rocker arms will have no load on the valve springs )

Once you have confirmed this step, ( might have to try a few rotations of crank to confirm)

Now continue to turn and line up crank pulley mark on the TDC mark

If done right, you now have engine on TDC compression stroke

Check where the rotor button under cap is now pointing

If it's pointing to No:1 cylinder on cap ( you should be close )
Timing will be able to be set within spec by rotating distributor housing once running.

If it's pointing to No:4 cylinder you are 180 degrees out on the timing.

You can either remove the distributor from engine and rotate 180 and re install
Or if your leads will fit neater.

Install leads in order 1-3-4-2 as DD said, starting with No:1 lead where the rotor is pointing

If your still stuck
I'm also in Sydney

Might be able to help you further if you want to PM me

Not sure how well I've explained that procedure

Hope I haven't confused you more

Cheers and Good luck

Leads in correct order. I'm not sure what type of ignition- Ebay type with Magnet under rotor and red trigger. Could be installed in wrong spot? I do not have a timing light I was hoping it would just come out fine haha. I may have to get one.

Rallytwit when you say off one tooth, you are talking about removing the dizzy completely? As I had not removed it.

I had checked the valves for which stroke and made sure 1 and 4 were in the right spot for the rotor/crank marks before I installed engine. However perhaps owners had played with dizzy or pulled it out. Having said that the housing points to front of car I tried rotation but made it worse. I haven't pulled whole dizzy yet as was worried I would mess it up further.

Thanks all for help

Well if you haven't pulled the distributor the timing should be OK.

You can check the timing close enough without the light. You should be able to spin the motor round until the timing mark on the crank pulley is in the 5-7 degrees before top dead center. At that point the tang on the magnet should line up with the mark on the pick up.

From your description it sounds like the timing is severely retarded.

Or, the new module purchase on eBay could be defective ...

Does it look like this? It's the Hot Spark type which requires a ballast resistor. Also the spacing of the pickup to the magnet must be adjusted to a certain gap. Finally timing must be adjusted either using a timing light or by the old-fashioned method

Thanks. I went back to basics and re-installed the distributor and it seems to be timed correctly (although on installation the rotor definitely looked advanced a couple of degrees rather than pointing directly to #1).

I used that kit as pictured DD however I did not use a ballast? My extractors have torn at a weld so I can't hear if the engine is running OK, will have to fix that and report back.

If you use that kit but no ballast, it will overheat the module and get erratic spark

It is a points-replacement kit, and so uses the stock parts (all except the points) which includes the ballast resistor

hi DD,

As per the picture, do I need a ballast resistor at the red X or the blue X? I see the blue X has one labelled as optional, so I can reuse a spare I have here at the red X instead? (it's not currently in use due to having internally regulated alternator)



This is the ballast I have spare: