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Ford 2000 Electronic Ignition

B

Bennett French

Member
I have a 1966 Ford 2000, gas, 3 cylinder and I want to replace the ignition system with the Pertronix electronic ignition. The instructions for the electronic system call for a 3.0 ohm coil. I checked the resistance of my coil and it is 1.5 ohms. I bought a 3.0 ohm coil. The instructions for the new coil include a test to determine if there is a resistance wire or ballast resistor in the original configuration. The results of that test (less than 12 volts between the positive terminal of the coil and ground, with the negative terminal of the coil grounded) indicate that there is a resistor of some sort somewhere. Should I try the electronic upgrade to the distributor using my old coil, or should I use the 3.0 ohm coil? If I change the coil, does anyone know how to remove the additional resistance? Thanks.
 
Bennett.
Welcome to the Ford Board.
There is a resistor wire in the system.
It goes from a bullet plug near the starter solenoid to the coil. It is 3 layers of wire taped together - about 20" long.
I converted a 3 cyl to EI several years ago.
At the time I did not know there was a resistor in the system.
I hooked it up with the resister wire intact and the tractor ran flawlessly. After about 4 years of running it that way I finally learned about the resister wire. But why would I change it then?
3 years later I sold the tractor and it still ran great.
I never opened the distributer cap once in that time.
There is a lot of debate on these boards whether EI is worth the money.
I think the EI was money well spent.
Especially on a 3 cylinder where the points are kind of a PIA to get at.
 
(quoted from post at 19:21:55 01/08/14) Bennett.
Welcome to the Ford Board.
There is a resistor wire in the system.
It goes from a bullet plug near the starter solenoid to the coil. It is 3 layers of wire taped together - about 20" long.
I converted a 3 cyl to EI several years ago.
At the time I did not know there was a resistor in the system.
I hooked it up with the resister wire intact and the tractor ran flawlessly. After about 4 years of running it that way I finally learned about the resister wire. But why would I change it then?
3 years later I sold the tractor and it still ran great.
I never opened the distributer cap once in that time.
There is a lot of debate on these boards whether EI is worth the money.
I think the EI was money well spent.
Especially on a 3 cylinder where the points are kind of a PIA to get at.
Click to expand...
id you power the module via that resistor wire or power module through another path & power only the coil through that resistor wire? Just curious.
 
Yes, I powered both the coil and module through the resister wire. Didn't know better...
Tells you that EI will operate on significantly lower voltage than you'd expect.
 
(quoted from post at 20:12:38 01/08/14) Yes, I powered both the coil and module through the resister wire. Didn't know better...
Tells you that EI will operate on significantly lower voltage than you'd expect.
Click to expand...
nteresting! Thanks for the response.
 
(quoted from post at 20:12:38 01/08/14) Yes, I powered both the coil and module through the resister wire. Didn't know better...
Tells you that EI will operate on significantly lower voltage than you'd expect.
Click to expand...
I looked up one particular 12V module on their website the other day.
Specs said it would run from 8 to 18 volts.
Being essentially an electronic switch, as long as it switched on and off at the
right time I doubt there would be any difference in the output voltage of the coil.
I think I would try to power it as close to 12V as I could though.
Differing opinions are of course welcome.
 
Measure the voltage at the red wire to the module with the resistor AHEAD of the electronic switch unit with the engine cranking under cold conditions (starter pulling down the battery voltage) and I'll bet it will be lower than you think!

Have you seen the Pertonix diagrams below and noted Diagram 3, the recommended way to power the module if the ballast resistor is left in place for a low resistance coil?

<img src = "http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u125/27Grainfield/N%20Ford/pert_zps501f52ad.jpg">
 
There are two wires attached to the positive terminal of my original coil. One wire is attached to the negative terminal. The negative terminal wire goes to the distributor (points). One of the positive terminal wires goes to the starter solenoid (sounds like the resistance wire described by Ultradog). The other positive wire disappears into the wiring harness. I disconnected both positive terminal wires and turned the ignition switch to the on position. The wire going to the starter solenoid has no voltage; the wire going to the harness has 12 volts. Leaving the wire to the starter solenoid disconnected from the coil seems to make no difference during the voltage check prescribed for the coil. The wiring diagram for this tractor does not show any connection between the starter solenoid and the coil or two wires to the positive side of the coil. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks.
 
The wire coming from the main harness is from the key switch "run" position and has the resistance built into it. The other wire going directly to the starter solenoid is to bypass the resistor wire when the key is in the "start" position and supply the full battery voltage to the coil during starting to get a hotter spark during startup when the battery is being dragged down by the starter motor. That bypass wire was not stock on the 3 cylinder thousand series, but a lot of people added it.
 
Can you advise me as to how to proceed with the electronic conversion (use my 1.5 ohm coil or replace it with the 3.0 ohm coil)?
 
When I install the 3.0 ohm coil the voltage from the positive terminal to ground is about 8.5 volts. With the 1.5 ohm coil (original coil) the voltage is about 5.5 volts. It looks like I should use the new coil...?
 
If you are going to leave that ballast resistance wire in the circuit, you want to use 1.5 Ohm coil. If you remove the ballast resistance wire, then use the 3 Ohm coil. If keep ballast, then be sure module is powered ahead of ballast resistance wire as per the most right hand diagram in Bob's post earlier in this thread.
I believe (Sean should be able to confirm) that if you start following the resistance wire back up/into the harness, you will find a junction where resistance wire &amp; copper wire meet. At this point you can either remove resistance wire &amp; replace with copper &amp; use 3 Ohm coil or you can tap the copper &amp; feed module from tap &amp; keep 1.5 coil &amp; feed it via resistance wire.
 
I don't know if there's a convenient place to tap into the resistance wire past the resistance portion, but you should be able to see where it slims down, and so you could splice into it there. If it was me, I would go with the 3 ohm coil and run a brand new wire from the "run" terminal on the key switch directly to the EI module and coil, and keep the original wire harness intact in case you or some future owner ever decide to switch back to the original configuration.
 
I'm NOT intimately familiar with the 2000, but, typically, the wire from the coil to the start solenoid would be for "starting bypass", a system in which an extra contact in the solenoid provides full battery voltage to the coil during CRANKING, bypassing the resistor wire that goes back to the ignition switch, to compensate for battery voltage drop during cranking.
 
sure can't argue about the less than favorable position of the dizzy on them 3cyl jobs. I prefer diesel......
 
(quoted from post at 17:04:33 01/09/14) What gage wire would you recommend from the switch to the coil?
Click to expand...
would recommend the sizes quoted in the Pertronix installation instructions, i.e., 18 to 20 gauge. Go larger if that is what you have handy.
 
(quoted from post at 11:30:16 01/09/14) Measure the voltage at the red wire to the module with the resistor AHEAD of the electronic switch unit with the engine cranking under cold conditions (starter pulling down the battery voltage) and I'll bet it will be lower than you think!

Have you seen the Pertonix diagrams below and noted Diagram 3, the recommended way to power the module if the ballast resistor is left in place for a low resistance coil?

&lt;img src = "http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u125/27Grainfield/N%20Ford/pert_zps501f52ad.jpg"&gt;
Click to expand...

I have that same diagram I just read it, it reads at the bottom

Note: A resistor wire or ballast resistor may are not be included in the original equipment. They are not to be changed in any way with instillation of AN ignitor system...

I just did a 71 Corvette , I left the original coil and resistor in place BUT I wired switched 12V to the ignitor... I don't think I will have a problem with it... If I would have read it I would have left it as the directions read and left it wired like OEM...
 
I mentioned this in my earlier post but perhaps did not make myself clear.
If you follow the wire backwards from the coil you will see there is a bullet connector in that wire right near the starter solenoid. The resistor wire is in that portion between that bullet connector and the coil.
(If you open the tape on it you will see it is 3 layers)
If you are going to use the New coil just unplug the resistor wire and replace it with a regular wire and run both the module and coil off of that.
Another option that would save you the cost of the new coil would be to reuse the old coil and at the bullet connector splice in a second wire to power the module. Reuse the resistor wire for the Old coil.
Either way, you do not need to run a new wire all the way back to the switch.
By the way, I'm pretty sure Ford did not use the 4th post on the starter solenoid to provide a voltage spike while starting the engine.
 
i wear ear plugs outside unless using a shovel. Any power tools or engine powered tool .. I wear big 32db plugs. As forthe stink.. i like it better than gas smell... :)
 
When I follow my wires (2 of them) one of them goes aft on the tractor and is connected to the starter solenoid (described in another post as the starter by-pass wire); the second wire goes up and forward, over the engine and becomes a part of the wrapped wire harness. I will look again today, but I have not found where the wires are spliced (I have not un-wrapped the harness). Alternatively, I have found the other end of this wire where it attaches to the ignition switch. I appreciate your help with this project, very much, I just don't see the configuration that you describe.
 
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