So, I've pretty much gotten everything prepped and ready for the Duraspark II conversion. However, I was looking over my wiring harness, and thought that I had it all figured out, until I noticed one wire with a single plug on it. I've looked in previous threads/write ups, and I haven't been able to figure it out. Any ideas?

 

You are going to have to unwrap the black tape to see where it goes.
The 3 or 4 wire connector, center one on “goes to truck”, only needs 3 wires on the engine side of the harness, you might have 4 on the truck firewall side, if it goes there it is an extra power wire you wont need.
Jim

 

The drawing I got at the Ford dealer showed it connected to the choke warmer, but I'm told that wasn't right because of the voltage. It's powered only when the ignition is on, so I use it to power the constant duty solenoid that I've added to isolate my camper battery from the rest of the truck's electrical system. Just wrap it up and tuck it away for later.

 

Awesome. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something. Thanks, guys!

I'm planning on doing the conversion tomorrow, hopefully. I'll also be posting a write-up and pictures after I'm done.

 

My '81 does not have that "what's this?" connection. However, when I put a DuraSpark ignition into my '84, it did have that connection in the wiring harness. I'm currently using it to power the choke until I get around to rewiring it for a 12v for the 4bbl that's on it. I don't think it's anything to worry about if you don't use it.

Look forward to seeing your writeup and pics. Honestly, the swap took me about 30 minutes. Hope it goes just as smooth for you.

 

Well, the wiring harness came out of an '82. So I have no idea what it was originally intended for, but now that I've got everything figured out, it should be pretty painless, provided I don't run into any problems in the process.

The one concern that I do have, is timing. I tried out the timing light that I found in my garage today, and it doesn't work, so I'm kinda without a timing light. So, I figured that I could remove the dizzy cap on my old distributor, and crank the engine until the rotor is pointed to the number 1 cylinder, and then make sure that the engine doesn't turn over after that. Then, I could remove the old distributor and install the Duraspark dizzy, with the rotor pointing to the no.1 cylinder, and still have some semblance of ignition timing so that the truck at least runs until I can get access to a timing light. My question is, would this even work? or am I over-thinking things?
OR, am I just gonna have to suck it up, time it by ear, and then put a timing light on it later?

 

Your plan of using #1 as a reference point will work, and get it close enough to start. Then, time by ear. If needed, you can have it checked by someone with a light, or buy your own.

 

Alright. That's not too bad. My neighbor may have one, but he won't be home until thursday, I think. So, if all else fails, I might be able to borrow his real quick. Timing takes all of about five minutes, anyway.

Thanks alot guys!

Like I said earlier, I'm planning on doing the swap tomorrow, simply because of the fact that I can't make myself wait until the weekend. Ha. I'll post a write up and pics when I get done.

 

Another way you can time the engine (which is usually how I do it after work on the ignition), is reset it. Bring the #1 cylinder to top dead center, and be sure it's on the compression stroke (by feeling pressure build up with your finger in the spark plug hole.)

Look at the timing marks on the front of the engine, and look to see if the mark on the harmonic balancer is pointed directly at 0. (This is just to double check your harmonic balancer is on straight.) After you've confirmed this, move the crank shaft until the timing mark points at the timing you want your engine to be at.

Then, install the distributor so that the rotor is pointing at the #1 spark plug wire. Do this without turning then engine. You may need to try a couple times until you get the distributor to go in, or try a couple different angles on the distributor. It doesn't matter at all which way it goes in, as long as the vacuum advance is accessible, and the rotor is pointed at #1.

Look inside the distributor at the stator (which is the six pronged star shaped part), remove the rotor if it's on, and rotate the distributor slowly and slightly until the arm on the stator if PERFECTLY lined up between the two alignment lines on the magnetic pickup. It's easy to see and do.

Tighten it down, put the arm back on, and put the cap back on. Be sure your spark plug wires are on correctly. Your timing should be perfect without any tools necessary.



The other option (or a follow up option) is to time with a vacuum gauge if you have one. Once the vehicle is running and idling at the correct RPM, remove the vacuum advance from the distributor. Rotate the distributor until you get the MOST vacuum you can get on the gauge. Back the distributor off until the timing drops 2hg. So, if you can get it up to 20hg, back the timing off until the timing just drops to 18hg.




Last but not least.... Do you have a new coil to distributor wire? It's different on the Duraspark II than it is on the feedback.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

AB, I'm assuming that I can just put a ratchet and socket on the crankshaft pulley and turn the crankshaft like that?

And yes, I'm pretty sure all the wires that I need are in the harness that I have. When I pulled it out of the truck in the junk yard, all I did was un-plug all the plugs, and lift the wiring harness up and out of the truck with the coil still attached. Didn't even mess with the coil at all. Should be good to go, right?

 

On mine, I can actually just grab the fan and turn it, and it'll turn the crank (as long as it's in neutral). My other has a fan clutch, so this doesn't work, and a regular socket and wrench turns it easy enough.

The coil/dist wire doesn't have anything to do with the wiring harness. It's just the 7th "spark plug" wire that runs from the distributor cap and plugs into the coil. The DSII coil requires a different end on it than the feedback coil did.

 

Oh.. ooh.. I guess that's one more thing I need to grab from Advance tomorrow. Haha. If you hadn't told me that, the project (and my truck) would have been dead in the water. Ha. Thanks alot, AB!

 

You'll probably have to go with a whole new set of spark plug wires (don't think you can get them separately), but at least they'll be new.

 

Alright, so I did the whole conversion, It went off without a hitch. Did the ignition timing by ear, just tinkered with the dizzy until it sounded like it was running right. I got it to where it idles smooth. And man, I mean smooth. Smoother than I've ever heard it. But, when I'm accelerating, it sputters unless I'm going WOT. What's the deal? Am I just going to have to keep tinkering until I find what stops the sputtering? Or is there maybe something else going on?

 

Glad the conversion went well! Thats' awesome.

As for the sputter, hrm.. There's a few things that first come to mind.

First, when you pulled out all the previous stuff, I know there are a lot of vacuum lines that go with it. Were you sure to cap all of those off and double/triple check for open ports on the intake, carb, etc.?

Next, what was the story on the ignition module? Did you end up with a used one or a new one? If you did a used one, did you take it down and have it tested? If its bad, it'll give you a lot of running problems.

Lastly, it's possible that your timing is still off. Do you have a vacuum gauge on hand you could run the timing tune I mentioned above?

Again, glad it's all in! Now it's just a matter of getting the kinks out. Sure makes for a clean engine bay, doesn't it?