2N with 12v conversion issues

This situation appears to be the norm from what I've read.

The 6v system in my tractor died this spring(coil bad, wiring frayed and corroded, battery not holding a charge) so I went with a 12v conversion. I have been reading a lot of forum posts on my trusty 2N and wired up an external can coil replacing the location of the box coil with non-conductive plastic.

My wiring scheme is thus;

Ammeter-
Terminal #1 to resistor block #3
Terminal #2 to starter toggle #1

Starter toggle-
Terminal #1 to resistor block #3
Terminal #2 to resistor block #2

Coil-
Negative to resistor block #1
Negative to condensor
Positive to points

Alternator-
Terminal #1(single wire) to resistor block #3

I have tested each wire for continuity. The battery is new. The points are not burned. The distributor has been static timed properly. I have looked at dozens of wiring schemes and tried many of them. The wiring was done with and without the ceramic resistor in place. I do not have a voltage regulator. The starter turns fine. I get no spark with any wiring scheme. I also think that the condensor is on the wrong pole.

After justifiable admonishing me for my shoddy "upgrade" can I get some assistance untangling my wiring issue?

Further info;

New plug wires, new plugs, new coil, other wires new.

I'm not surprised. What is a starter toggle? How did you accomplish neg to condenser & pos to points when speaking of coil wires?
What did you do different than this? Omissions?

Google 'wiring diagrams by JMOR'. Except for the
coil conversion, everything should be the same.
The wire from switched side of the ignition switch
should go to the pos side of the coil. The wire
from the negative side of the coil should go to
the concave screw in the distributor. The coil
tower should connect to the flexible clip in the
distributor cap. Condenser connects to the neg
side of the coil and it should be grounded.

I don't have an ignition key switch. It's a simple on/off toggle.

Edit;
The condensor is no longer in the distributor because I have a can coil so it is attached to the coil mount. I could place it back inside the distributor by removing some more material in the square coil block off plate.

On my machine there is no wiring loom for lights yet.

There is one wire from the coil to the points and a standard spark plug wire that goes to the coil from the distributor cap, all other wires are correct as per that scheme. I modeled my wiring closer to an 8N's 12v conversion as it more closely matches what I've got.

(quoted from post at 19:39:12 09/22/14) I don't have an ignition key switch. It's a simple on/off toggle.

Edit;
The condensor is no longer in the distributor because I have a can coil so it is attached to the coil mount. I could place it back inside the distributor by removing some more material in the square coil block off plate.

On my machine there is no wiring loom for lights yet.

There is one wire from the coil to the points and a standard spark plug wire that goes to the coil from the distributor cap, all other wires are correct as per that scheme. I modeled my wiring closer to an 8N's 12v conversion as it more closely matches what I've got.

Click to expand...

uess I'm just dense, but what does this mean?

Coil-
Negative to resistor block #1
Negative to condensor
Positive to points


8N (late):

(quoted from post at 16:50:58 09/22/14) Guess I'm just dense, but what does this mean?

Coil-
Negative to resistor block #1
Negative to condensor
Positive to points

Click to expand...

It means that wiring diagram with the condensor stuck to the side of the coil, minus the cutout relay but in much less clear language.

(quoted from post at 20:23:54 09/22/14)

(quoted from post at 16:50:58 09/22/14) Guess I'm just dense, but what does this mean?

Coil-
Negative to resistor block #1
Negative to condensor
Positive to points

Click to expand...

It means that wiring diagram with the condensor stuck to the side of the coil, minus the cutout relay but in much less clear language.

Click to expand...

orry, but I still can not make sense of "positive to points"?? If you mean "positive terminal of coil" to points, then the condenser lead should go to that same terminal. Probably won't run otherwise. I see no mention of a path for battery power to get to ammeter??

(quoted from post at 20:23:54 09/22/14)

(quoted from post at 16:50:58 09/22/14) Guess I'm just dense, but what does this mean?

Coil-
Negative to resistor block #1
Negative to condensor
Positive to points

Click to expand...

It means that wiring diagram with the condensor stuck to the side of the coil, minus the cutout relay but in much less clear language.

Click to expand...

orry, but I still can not make sense of "positive to points"?? If you mean "positive terminal of coil" to points, then the condenser lead should go to that same terminal. Probably won't run otherwise. I see no mention of a path for battery power to get to ammeter??

Condenser wire has to be hooked up to the side of the coil that goes to the points and the body grounded. Is that what you have?

(quoted from post at 00:01:56 09/23/14) Condenser wire has to be hooked up to the side of the coil that goes to the points and the body grounded. Is that what you have?

Click to expand...

here is an echo in here. :wink:

You are correct; positive side of the coil to the points. Apologies for my cryptic language, trying to repair this thing with both myself and kid in the middle of a flu. I'm not dumb, just missing most of my reasoning capacity.

It turns out I had the 'ground the condensor body' part missing from the equation. I had it isolated - sheathed in heat-shrink tubing and clamped to the coil - I drilled and tapped the coil clamp and screwed the condensor down...and she fired. I was under the impression, due to reading static timing guidelines, that I had to avoid grounding the condensor. Guess I took that too literally.

Once I get everything cleaned up I'll start a new thread showing my conversion set-up. Thanks for your help guys, that one sentence was the key!

just curious. what are you using the resistor when you went to some trouble to go to a round can coil?

why not go to a 12v coil vs the 6v style.. since you would have had to buy a round coil either way?

I tried both with and without the resistor. Currently there is no resistor present, the entire system is fully 12v. At one point I figured 'what the hell, maybe that stupid resistor IS the missing link'. Nope.

but you mentioned using the 3 post resistro block.. do you have the resistor removed from the top 2 posts and a plain wire there?

what coil are you using?

I am using the old resistor block minus the actual resistor. Coil is from a VW Bug. Internally resisted and the same spec that others use for the round coil conversion.

I kinda doubt the bit about the 'internally resisted'....