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Old Sep 26, 2004 | 04:04 PM
  #1  
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DentsideAholics
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Which ignition system do I have?

I have a 76 f100 4x4 390 NP435. How do I find out what ignition system I have? Is there an advantage to upgrading to a newer system or to aftermarket components? I am not very up to speed on this subject, any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Old Sep 26, 2004 | 06:02 PM
  #2  
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How many wires do you have coming out of the distributor? If it's one wire, then you have points. If it's three wires, then you have the durspark ignition system. If you have the points system, and don't mind changing them once in awhile, it will work fine. If you don't want to change points, then you can go to an aftermarket electronic system, or convert it to a later Ford duraspark II system.
 
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Old Sep 26, 2004 | 07:38 PM
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DentsideAholics
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Thanks Franklin2 for the reply. I am not where the truck is right now and I dont want to give you the wrong info as far as wires.

If it has points, is there an advantage to going to an aftermarket electronic system over the duraspark II? What is invloved with this change over? I guess what I'm asking is what all do I have to change over? I have read about different systems by Jacobs, MSD and Ignitor but I dont really know what all parts I would need and which parts that are on the truck now would have to come off. Is the Ford duraspark II system reliable? I need dependability and ease of maintenence. I am planning on using this truck on a farm and for hunting in Louisiana (hot and rainy), so it will be worked fairly hard.

If it has the duraspark ignition, do I need to upgrade/update it?
 
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Old Sep 27, 2004 | 05:55 PM
  #4  
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you should have the duraspark
this system is fine for a stock truck
very reliable and easy to work on when
it fails. you can up grade by using a cap from a later ds 2
the 83 cap is a larger diameter
get a base for the larger cap at a junk
yard
you can then use larger wires, 8 mm and
plugs with a larger gap for a hotter spark
there are differant ds2 boxes with differant
grommet colors
not sure which is the best
do a search to find other threads on the grommet colors
 
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Old Sep 27, 2004 | 09:25 PM
  #5  
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Thanks for the info mhg. I appreciate your assistance.
 
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