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Re: [oletrucks] Runnin' happy

To: oletrucks@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [oletrucks] Runnin' happy
From: Bruce Kettunen <bekett@uslink.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 16:28:55 -0600
I don't think your problem is done yet.....

Sounds like you forgot to wire in the ballast resistor between the 
ignition switch run terminal and the coil.  This drops the coil voltage 
from 12 volts to around 6 volts and keeps the coil from oozing brown 
liquid and the points from welding together if the key is on, the 
engine is not running, and the points happen to be closed.  It also 
makes the points last longer.

The ballast resistor is usually a rectangular ceramic block mounted 
somewhere on the engine side of the firewall.

There is a bypass terminal off the starter solenoid that provides 
pure 12 volts to the coil when the starter is engaged.  This is to 
give the truck a hotter spark when it is being started.

I hope you also replaced the condenser (the little round cylindrical 
capacitor in the distributor) when you replaced the distributor points.


It's been over 20 years since the manufacturers put a point style 
ignition in a car or truck and we sometimes forget (or never learned) 
how they work.  These electro-mechanical systems the Ancient Ones 
used are a marvel of design from a time when there were no computers 
and not much in the way of electronics.

Don't feel bad, I learned this from my dad when these were "newtrucks".

Bruce Kettunen
57 3200
Mt. Iron, MN


At Monday, 2 April 2001, you wrote:

>Over the last few months, my 55 2nd has been running worse and worse.
>Compression was good (350 smallblock), which sort of limited my 
problems
>down to either ignition or fuel.  A month or so ago, I basically 
put a new




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