Help please,

I have only been able drive for a couple of kilometers before the engine died. Turned out that the points were badly burned so one of the little "rivets" came loose.

What have I done wrong?

The engine is a standard X-flow and I built the wiring harness myself from scratch. All the ignition parts are new.

Is some kind of resistor included in the original wiring harness to restrict the current through the points?

Thanks in advance.
/Hasse

The condenser in the distributor should reduce arcing between the points so check or replace that. Check you have a 12 volt coil if you have not ballasted the coil supply.Finaly check you have a standard coil and not a high powered electronic coil which will certainly kill the points double quick.

You should have 12V at the + side of the coil and 8V+/- going from the coil to the dizzy You may need a coil with an internal resistor or an external ballast resistor.

David.

I have been involved in racing 2 pinto and 3 litre essex engines for a few years and a few o h v. We found that we needed to fit the resistance wire that is fitted in some of the wiring looms between the ignition switch and the coil in the run position. this restricts the volts to about 8 volts. When the ignition switch is held in the spring loaded start position the resistor is by-passed so to give a big spark when the engine is cold. Not fitting this wire that is about 3 times the normal diameter with male bullet connections at each end used to cause the points to burn out or the plastic heal to melt.

Thank´s !!

I bought a new coil with higher primary resistance (about 3 ohm compared to standard 1 ohm) and hope it has been sorted this way.

/Hasse