Spitted ones,
For my '78 Spitfire I have a new Mallory dual point distributor (VB
17-501), Mallory super duty chrome coil (VB 17-570), and Mallory coil
resistor (VB 17-571). I have the distributor physically installed in the
car, but I am a little unsure of the electrical connections. It came with
very nice directions for the physical install but not one word about the
electrical part. The old distributor was a Lucas 45DE4 with an Alison
electronic ignition module mounted by the clutch master. It seems like
this was not original because the wiring harness has a plug near the
distributor that is unused. It has white/blue, 2 white, and white/black
wires on it. The schematics show this plugged into the distributor but it
wasn't. Instead the electronic ignition module was plugged directly into
the old distributor. Obviously I don't need this module anymore (its fried
anyway) but I have some rambling questions about installing the new points
distributor.
1. Because the new distributor is points it only has one electrical
connection. Should this be the white/black wire on the above mentioned
connector? It looks like the other end goes to the - coil. Then there is
another white/black wire on the - coil that must go to the tach but I did
not ohm that one out.
2. How does the white/blue and the white wire come into play? The
schematics show them connecting to the distributor somehow but it doesn't
show how. With only one terminal on the distributor I can't see this
happening anyway.
3. The VB catalog (SG.27) pg 21 says "Mallory resistor should be used to
replace stock resistor. Super Duty coil must be used with proper ballast
resistor." So, I have this new resistor. Does it replace the one mounted
by the alternator connected to a white and a white/blue wire? These are
the other ends of the wires as mentioned in #2 above.
4. What about the "proper ballast resistor" that the catalog mentions?
This sounds like the ballast resistor wire that connects to the starter
solenoid. It ohms out at 1.5 ohms. Is this the "proper" ballast for this
setup? I thought the 40,000 volt coil was not suppose to use a ballast
resistor. The VTR page write up says that the 40,000 volt coil should have
a bypass on this so it is always 12v to the coil. So why does the VB
catalog say I need the "proper" one if its not even suppose to be in use?
I think I understand the idea behind the ballast resistor pretty well after
reading the wonderful writeup on the VTR page but I don't understand what
this other resistor is for or how to hook it up. I guess that is my major
sticking point. I can just swap it out with the old one but unless I can
figure out what to connect the other ends of the wires to it won't do me
much good.
Sorry for being so long but I wanted to be as clear as possible. Its
rather frustrating having this expensive invenstment and not being able to
hook it up correctly. The only thing that is hooked up right is the
"Mallory Ignition" sticker that is now on my toolbox.
Always gratefull,
David Gates
Hawaii
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