Ford 3000 electronic ignition help

johnofnewhaven · Nov 17, 2017

Hello. I am hooking up electronic ignition
to my 1970 3000. I have a few questions.
1st the old coil is marked on top battery
on one post and distributor on the other
post. Is the battery post the positive
post? 2nd does this 3000 have a ballast
resistor? Any one ever install a Pertronix
electronic ignition on a 3cyl ford gas
before? Thank you!

johnofnewhaven · Nov 17, 2017

Photo

johnofnewhaven · Nov 17, 2017

That photo is the Pertronix instructions. Hope it helps you help me.

Bob · Nov 17, 2017

The coil terminal marked "BATT" simply means it's the terminal to which power is supplied by the ignition switch. It does NOT actually connect directly to the battery.

Since this is a (-) ground tractor, the "BATT" terminal on the coil would be marked (+) if it were not a Ford of that era, and the "DIST" terminal is the (-) terminal, which goes to the distributor points/condenser. Industry standard was to label the terminals (+) and (-), Ford and some Euro stuff was marked as yours is.

If you can accurately measure the primary resistance of the coil, that will tell if it originally used a resistor or not, and you can compare that to pertronix's recommendations as to how to proceed now.

In general terms, if the coil's primary resistance is in the 1.75 Ohm range (give or take a bit), it would have been intended for use with primary resistance in a 12 Volt system.

If in the 3.5 Ohm range, it would NOT have required a primary resistor in a 12 Volt system.

johnofnewhaven · Nov 17, 2017

The old coil reads 2.3 ohms

Bob · Nov 17, 2017

Would seem to be most likely a coil designed for use with primary resistor.

Any idea if your meter is accurate at low Ohms?

What does it read with the test probes shorted together?

JMOR · Nov 17, 2017

He has a lot to deal with on that 3000, as it had a "in the harness" resistance PLUS the solenoid starting bypass. Fun times!

johnofnewhaven · Nov 17, 2017

It read .6 I have it all hooked up now plus new spark plugs and spark plug wires. Also new rotor and distributor cap and new coil. Guess what? It fired right up and seems to run fine! I will check timing tomorrow.

JMOR · Nov 17, 2017

It would be interesting to really know how it is hooked up, but not likely to ever know.

johnofnewhaven · Nov 17, 2017

What do you mean?

JMOR · Nov 18, 2017

(quoted from post at 23:47:09 11/17/17) What do you mean?

t should have had two wires going to one coil small terminal and I want to know where those two go now. By not expecting to know, I meant that by your needing to ask, those Pertronix diagrams, and not knowing what wiring mods may have been made in the last30+ years we may never know.

johnofnewhaven · Nov 18, 2017

I traced them both back to the starter
relay. I read if you get the Pertronix coil
you don't have to worry about the inline
resistor. I will call Pertronix to find
out. I just know the Pertronix electronic
ignition need a full 12 volt to work
properly and the old fords only put out 5-9
volts to the old coil and could shorten the
life of the electronic ignition. I will
test that this morning.

JMOR · Nov 18, 2017

(quoted from post at 10:00:23 11/18/17) I traced them both back to the starter
relay. I read if you get the Pertronix coil
you don't have to worry about the inline
resistor. I will call Pertronix to find
out. I just know the Pertronix electronic
ignition need a full 12 volt to work
properly and the old fords only put out 5-9
volts to the old coil and could shorten the
life of the electronic ignition. I will
test that this morning.

wo parallel wires makes no sense.

Sean in PA · Nov 18, 2017

The 3000 originally had a resistance wire between the key switch and the coil. It served the same function as a ballast resistor but it did not look like one. There wa a section in the wire between the coil and the key switch that was fatte3r than the rest of the wire and was covered in heat shrink so it almost looked like a fusible link. My '73 4000 had the original resistance wire replaced with a plain wire and a ballast resistor when I bought it and it still works fine.

I would just run a new wire from the key switch to the pertronix coil and call it done.

Ultradog MN · Nov 18, 2017

Small point;
That resistor wire only runs from a bullet
connector by the solenoid to the coil.
The rest of it - key sw to bullet connector
is normal size 14 - 16? Ga
FWIW, When I put EI on my 3000 ten or twelve
years ago I did not know about that resistor
wire. I just hooked the red wire on the
module to the + side of the coil and the
black wire to the - side of the coil.
The EI worked fine even on reduced voltage.

johnofnewhaven · Nov 18, 2017

I did the same plus put on a new 40,000 volt Pertronix coil. I don't know but the coil I took off sure looked antique!!! Raining like crazy here (almost 4" in about 24 hours) so I have not been able to get it out and work it. But sitting in the shop it sounds great.

Ford 3000 electronic ignition help

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