I've got what I believe to be a 1979 460 going into a 61' F100. I could use your help with some wiring issues of the distributor and ignition module. Here's how I have it now, but don't dare to try it in fear of burning everything to the ground:

From the (blue) module:
White: to S on starter solenoid
Red: to + on coil
Green: to - on coil

As for my distributor (Duraspark II?) which wires go to which ignition module wires? My distributor wires are red/black, blue/black, and black. Module wires are white, red, green, orange, purple, and black.

I've been reading schematics for days and can't make heads or tails. There seems to be tons of variations. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

See below DS II wiring diagram if you have any question just ask.

 

Thanks for the response. My questions arise because my distributor wire colors don't match the wires from the ignition module, so the above diagram isn't helping...and is the tach side of the coil + or - ?

 

yes, the tach on the distributor is negative. do you have a pic of your distributor...either you don't have a duraspark distributor, or someone replaced the pickup coil with a non-standard one. IF that is the case, you can easily determine which wire is ground with a multi-meter (black on ignition module), then the other two wires will go to purple and orange on the ignition module...

 

Here are a couple pics.

 

Why are all the wires from the module cut and spliced into all blue wires?
Making your own harness?

While this will work, I always prefer to use the "I" on the starter relay/solenoid instead.
Just seems safer to me.

Factory wiring, or new harness? If new, is there a ballast resistor on the wire to the positive side of the coil?
And speaking of the coil, what is it's ohm rating and what was it's original application? Dura Spark modules do care about the coil's ohm rating.
While we know that an ignition can work with less than 12v to the module, usually just the coil uses the resistor and the modules get the full 12v.

Correct.

There are many variations of Dura Spark and it's family of modules, but there are no variations between the distributor and the module for any, nor are their variations on the Blue module. All should have the same connections.
At this point, with the odd coloring of the distributor wires, I think we can safely assume that the all Black wire is the ground, and can go to the all Black wire of the module.
The other two can go interchangeably to the other Orange and Purple wires of the module, but I would run the Orange wire to the Black w/red wire, and the Purple wire to the Black w/blue wire. Just in case they are in fact polarity sensitive. Matthew probably knows whether or not that's the case, but since he said previously that the other two can go to either of the other two, I'm thinking they don't care which color is which.

And a good triple-check test of the distributor (even though it looks new?) is to remove the cap, use your ohm-meter to verify that the Black wire runs to the ground screw under the cap. The wire has the metal "wing" at the end where at least one hole lines up with one in the distributor body and a screw is tightly holding it down.
While you have your ohm-meter out, measure between the other two wires with the stripes, and you're looking for a reading between 400 and 700 ohms. Outside of that and the magnetic pickup stator is bad.

Paul

 

Thank you for the help! I just ran those blue wires to quickly get it wired up and tested before I wire it properly. A mock up if you will.