ignition problems

[gazz]

i run a 1.6 c16se block with and 1.4 multi point head with twin 40's and up rated cam, the dizzy i have had to be made to fit by a friend of mine to get it to spark due to the miss match engine components, (dizzy number 0237009073-jgf04) i have a coil with blue amp( coil number 1227020036-166 ((965)).

the problem started whilst driving home on the 27th, the rev counters bounced from 0-5k then the car died. wouldn't re start and when cranking the rev counter doesnt move like before on cranking. the aa came a towed me to a service stop, put on a jump pack and it started. checked my alternator and said it weren't changing enough. with the car running a carried on my travels and drove another hour with just head lights on and the car was fine apart from one small cough and after managing to keep it going by bumping it got home.
this morning i went out and it started fine. whilst looking for things either loose or a miss we started it 6-8 times and it was fine. had lunch came back to it to go drive it and nothing. we have no spark. we've tried another coil and amp and still can not get a spark....

anyone have any ideas?

what should the 2 wires on the side of the dizzy go to?

what do the 6 wires for the amp do and where should they go?

the car has no alarm or any system of that sort, we've checked the battery and alternator and they are both fine along with fuses. the only thing thats odd is it sometimes miss fired when indicating right but now we've checked that it doesn't spark or anything!

[gazz]

i have now checked the charging and its fine about 13.8....

[Dexter]

Just had a very similar issue with my 1300SR. For some reason my setup was a little different to most peoples as i had a small black box mounted ont he inner wing of the passenger side. Which turned out to be an idle stabiliser control unit.
Anyway to cut things short. On my setup i had the 12V feed going to the coil. Then there should be 2 wires running direct from the coil to the distributor and a green wire for your rev counter. Because of my control unit i also had another 12V coming out of the coil to that unit. From that unit, 6 wires came out. 4 directly to the distributor. 2 Went to the vacuum switch on top of the distributor. That is the wiring configuration.

Now i know you said you've changed it. My problem turned out to be the amplifier. It caused all sorts of problems without that heat resistant silicone stuff you need to put on the silver mounting plate before fitment, as it helps to reduce the heat within the distrubutor & engine from getting to the amplifier.

On of my concerns would be if the whole distributor has been 'made to fit' i would seriously consider having a good look at that.

I know you said you've changed the coil but do you get spark coming out of the king lead from the coil to the block upon crank?

Other small things that you probably already know would be dizzy cap - good clean of the points in it and a little WD40 on the plates. Obviously the rotor arm too. Actually inside the distributor, if it has contacts they might want cleaning - i didn't go into much detail on this as ive not done it but haynes gives a good run down.
Possibly the condensor in it too.

See my thread mate titled ignition issues for plenty of pictures of the wiring of it to double check yours and any other information you can get your hands on. Good luck mate hope this helps
Dex

[gazz]

is it possible that the dizzy could be at fault and not sending the signal to the coil to spark? sorry if this is a silly question but know little about car electrics. is there a simple and easy set up to use? ie coil pack set up and whats needed.
gonna double check earths and poss try another dizzy.

[Dexter]

Right matey well
Like you said. Double check your earths. Better still the main one that *should* run to your gearbox mounting earth strap located on the passengerside wing. Un-do it and take them both off. Clean up the contacts with some carb cleaner and clean the bonding surface to ensure a good clean contact.

Yeah that is more than likely your problem. Ideally you need someone to put a multimeter to the terminals inside the distributor to see what is/isnt getting voltage however if you have had the car running like i said its more than likely the contacts in it that want cleaning.

A new distrubutor is about ?150 from new i got quoted anyway. Not sure about a 2nd hand one. I dont *think* you can get a coil pack for it... reason why i say that is that ive never swapped them! im sure there would be a way of bodging one on i guess.

Just for good measure replace the dizzy cap and the rotor arm. Their cheap enough and provides 2 more eliminations from your problem solution.

[gazz]

pretty sure the problems either wiring or coil as theres no spark from the coil at all... but will do what ya said to try incase ur right and i owe u a beer or more a few....

[Dexter]

Take some pics of the wiring and connections buddy so i can check.

[gazz]

think we've sorted it.....new alternator and a good hard test drive and no faults. hopefully problem solved