Guys, I got my shop book today for the f trucks 49 to 52, but I cant seam to find any info on how to wire up my coil.. My old coil I pulled off my truck doesnt show _ or a + when I went to wire my new coil I didnt know what went to what.. I know my truck has a + ground its the inline6.. Any help would be great . also any way I can run what ever wire from the coil to the starter button rite to the _ or + on the battery for the time being intell I can hook up my starter buttom ?

 

Ok, first, the wire from your IGNITION SWITCH will go to the - side. The starter button wires to the solenoid to activate the starter. You can hook up a wire from the battery to the coil, but you can't leave it 'hooked up' as it will burn out the points and the solenoid. You can 'hot wire' the solenoid to activate the starter.

 

Soo I take it the + goes to the dist ?

 

That's a big 10-4 good buddy. Positive goes to the distributor in a positive ground system. Glad to hear you're making some progress.

 

Thanks doc, looks like ill wire in the new coil tomorrow after work... I sure hope to hear her come alive once again here real soon... Anyways I can make sure the points are working ? Buddy was telling me too hook up a test ligth to the dist but he talks 100 miles an hour n I didnt fully understand what he was saying any help with this would also be great

 

The little stud on the solenoid, if it's a stock solenoid, is grounded when the starter button is pushed. You can do the same thing by running a wire from the small stud to the ground. If you have the type of solenoid with the small button at the very bottom of the solenoid you can use this to activate the solenoid. I have the solenoid with the bottom button on my trucks. It helps a lot when setting the points and you need to bump the engine to get to the high lobe.

The wire from you coil to the battery, I highly recommend you have an alligator clip on the end you attach to the battery. If your engine fires up and you need to kill it you can just yank the alligator clamp off, it also makes it easier to hook up. Make sure the truck is out of gear before bumping the engine over. It is very easy to forget this simple step, know from experience. Nothing like have a truck come to life and lurching forward. Always consider the truck will start even if it won't. Treat it kind of like an unloaded gun. I've had engines that wouldn't start for some reason only to come to life when I bumped a wire. Again, a little surprising to have it come to life when you've been working on it for some time and it wouldn't start.

Also, have a fire extinguisher handy. If you're dumping a little gas in carb to get it to fire you could have a back fire or some other way the gas will ignite. Also, you have a lot of old bare wires in that old truck. You never know what will start burning.

Just a few suggestions from my experience working on these old beast for 30+ years.