Well my tilt column went south again last week, so I took the straight column that my son took out of his OT 72 Chevy pickup, measured it and decided it would bolt right in. I took it apart, freshened it up and installed it. Now my brake booster went south today at a stop light, so I swung by the shop and stuck a 3/8 bolt in the vacuum line to stop the vacuum leak. On the way home I lost my ignition, which was real apparent by the backfire as I coasted off the county highway. I do carry a spare coil and module (Pertonix) but I wasn't going to change it over a hot motor alongside a busy highway 5 miles from home when I have a perfectly good AAA card that has been getting moldy in my wallet. Got it home and after it cooled down I found I could not have fixed it anyway. I found that my secondary winding coil connection had gotten so hot at the center tower that it just burned in two WTF? I used a wood screw to pull the brass bullet out of the tower and you could see this thing got real hot at that connection. Funny thing is the coil according to my ohmmeter still tested good! I changed it anyway to my new spare and the car fired right up and purred, ignition module seems to be ok. Now I'm trying to figure out why the hell this thing burnt like it did? Can anyone enlighten me? I have had coils go bad but never fried one like this. Here's me and the 40 waiting for AAA
I can't help you on the coil issue but have to say you were lucky it didn't catch fire. I'd be interested to learn why the coil did that.
I entertained the notion of the arcing theory and creating heat also, but the brass bullet on the end was deeply embedded and I had to use a wood screw to extract it.
how old is coil ?- is it correct Pertronix coil? - how is coil mounted at motor? checked plugs & timing recently?
Even though the coil wire was fully plugged in, it must have been a poor connection=high resistance =heat Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
All ignition parts were new and are 5000 mi old. Pertronix Flame Thrower II distributor.... Coil 0.6 ohms Pertronix mounted high on firewall to left side of engine in upright position.....plug gap .035.... timing initial 10 deg with 38 total....8 mm Taylor wires... all verified 5000 mi ago when jetting carb.
With 50,000 volts a burnt up coil wire going into my pertronix distributor is what caused my catastrophic failure. HRP
I would add an extra ground wire from the engine to the frame . Lack of grounds can cause all sorts of weird electrical and even mechanical problems. I remember working in GM dealerships in the 70's and replacing a bunch of floor shift TH350 shift cables and then the bulletin came out to add a ground cable. Seems the car were seeking ground through the shift cable and melting them internally. Nice car , always wanted one. Worked on plenty of them.
I agree with grounds playing funny games. When I built/wired the car I put dedicated grounds from battery to frame, frame to body both front and rear areas, frame to engine both sides also dedicated frame and body grounds to the instruments in dash. I could be proven wrong but I honestly don't think a faulty ground is the issue.
MSD AL-7 with the MSD HVC-II coil did the same thing on my 440 road runner a few years ago, only it was the dizzy cap the got burnt. Coil wire conductor pulled away from the brass connector. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Well I may have solved the mystery.....maybe......but I'm going with it. I grabbed the old coil and went to take the screw out that holds the little female connector in and it was loose. Don't know if heat loosened it, maybe vibration or it was always loose from the factory causing the excessive heat from arcing to fry my wire. Been scratching my head and ass trying to figure a culprit and this is where all the evidence points. Cars back on the road so it's time to act like a dog... I've kicked some grass over that shit and moved on!
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