gfw, my DSII was completely rewired from an EEC-IV. The truck sat in a field for 7 years, and mice ate the wiring at the ignition switch. I had no choice but to rewire. I can tell you that I have had nothing but trouble out of ballast resistors that are designed for Chrysler products. They are unreliable on DSII. However, my Plymouth Volare runs them just fine. There are some strange caveats in the world of electrical components.

 

Agreed. Fords infamous pink resistor wire is not one of their better ideas in my opinion. Seems like it would have just been simplier to design the system around full 12v. Guess they just had a surplus of six volt coils when everything switched to 12v. Wire was in there long before the Duraspark came out. I do use the ceramic ballast resistor when I use a new aftermarket harness with no problems. Key thing is, you have to remember it's there even if not being used on later models.

 

GFW: rats ate the wiring on my ignition switch when the truck sat in a field for a few years broke down. I rewired everything when I got rid of the EEC-IV junk ignition in favor of DSII. The hot wire to HEI had 12.6V straight from the ignition run circuit at the ignition switch. I rewired the whole mess. It ran great with DSII for a year until the E coil finally killed my ballast resistor (Dodge type on the firewall). I made the mistake of wiring it direct and burned the module up. Live an learn. I wanted to try HEI to get out of messing around with the ballast anymore. I got a new module and ballast the other day, but it was a POS autozone junker. The truck ran like ****, so I took the module and round coil back to autozone. I haven't worked on it for a few days, because I am disgusted now.

 

You can usually find original Motorcraft Duraspark II ignition modules in junkyards for around $10 - $20. They can be found in almost any Ford product from the late 1970s through the mid 1980s/

 

i am having the same problem (for the 2nd time) with a remanufactured DSII distributor and a HEI 4-pin module. Did you ever figure out what was wrong?

I've done this before on a friend's car (with an original Motorcraft distributor), so i know it can be done, and that I've got it wired up correctly.

both the DSII reluctor and the HEI module appear to be fine from my troubleshooting- but there is no signal to the coil to fire.

 

I just dropped a MSD box in, and the remanufactured DSII distributor has no trouble triggering it.

Must be something with the aftermarket HEI modules.

 

I am reviving this old thread because I am experiencing the same challenges that sixofspades posted here. I am posting to see if there was any resolution when using a new Cardone distributor during the conversion.

I am working on a Duraspark II HEI conversion but using an MSD Blaster II coil and can’t get the new Cardone distributor to fire. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

What dist. you using a DSII of HEI?
or
Is it the DSII dist. and an HEI module and not the DSII box?
What wiring you going by and what is it on?
Dave ----

 

I am using a DSII distributor and an HEI module (not the DSII box). It is wired the following way:

Terminal:

W= pickup coil in distributor (purple lead)
G= pickup coil in distributor (orange or red lead)
C= coil negative terminal
B= coil battery terminal

 

There is good solid information and troubleshooting in this thread.

All of the 4 pin GM modules, see photo in post 1, that I used, I bought home from the junk yard, meaning old original parts.

It seems unlikely that the original internal IC chip used over 30 years ago is still being manufactured. Meaning the newer version or newer aftermarket parts could be different.
If this is true I will have to stop recommending this.
Jim

 

I went back and started from the start to see what the OP had going on and now see what you are doing.
Being as old as this thread is and no feed back on a fix I am going to guess you will not get an answer

Now I did see where the HEI was grounded even back to the battery with a jumper for testing but I dont think I seen where the DSII dist. was grounded.
Yes in the wiring part in the first post it looks like the dist. ground is to the HEI unit but was it done that way on the truck?
I believe the DSII ground goes back to the box and if not it may not need as good a ground as the HEI unit?

Is your dist. ground run to the HEI unit and the HEI unit got a ground to battery?
Other than that I cant see why it may not work?

When talking grounds the factory had battery to frame then to motor.
On my 81 F100 with a 300 six it is 1 long cable that has an tab in the middle for a bolt to the frame and then to the top starter bolt.
They also had a ground wire 10 ga from motor to cab firewall. This is on the left side of the motor, has a bolt boss for this to the rear of the side cover, then to firewall.
You can never have enough grounds!

If I can track down my son he did this DSII / HEI module on his YJ Jeep as Jeep used the DSII system till the end of AMC.
I just dont know where he got the HEI unit from?

Then again could be what Jim said newer chip not good with older dist.?
Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Dave ----

 

Another thought
I wonder what the DSII pick up coil and a HEI dist. pick up coil ohm out at?

The HEI module in a HEI dist. are pretty close so short wires would be needed so maybe as Jim said changes were made and now that you add distance between the pick up coil & module they dont work?

Could that be why the FORD TFI units were installed in the dist.?
Cancel that as later years it was moved to think the firewall or fender.

But still think the pick up coil ohm could be a thing?
Dave ----

 

More thoughts...
On a stock DS2 ignition system, there is only one ground for both the coil primary circuit and the DS2 ignition module mounted on the inner fender, which is plastic.

If you look at the DS2 distributor you will see 3 wires going in. One of the wires (black) ends up with a grounding tab and a screw inside the distributor. This is the only ground.

The distributor produces a wave from that is used by the ignition module. They have to be compatible for everything to work as it should. My guess is that the internal parts in the newer 4 pin GM modules are different then they used to be. But the wave from generated by the distributor could also be different.
Good luck
Jim

 

My plan is to find an original Duraspark II distributor in an area salvage yard to see how the new unit compares to a stock original unit. Maybe then we can get some answers to solve this challenge.

 

Jim that is why I said the box & the dist. grounds may need to be tied together and then to ground.
I never followed the dist. ground to see where it goes?
I say this about tie the grounds together as I have seen some ALT and REG not charge even with the ALT to motor ground and the REG mounted to a metal inner fender till there was a ground wire run from the ALT to a mounting screw for the REG.

I would see about an original GM HEI module to try over the new store bought one as we think that is were the issue is.
I only posted that maybe the pick up coils ohm readings are that much different and the new store bought modules dont work right now with the DSII dist.?

Dave ----