Hey guys. I'm trying to help a neighbor get a 28 model a running. I don't care about the ignition switch or the generator or any of that. I just need it to run. It is all old original stuff with the BAT wing style dist. I have one wire comming out of the dist. Oh and it is positive ground 6 volt. So I ASSUME that dist wire goes to the NEG side of the coil? Positive side to ground? Then NEG side of coil to the battery? And it SHOULD run?
To hot wire it: Wire coming out of distributor goes to coil terminal marked (plus) + Then put a jumper from the main Hot battery wire at the starter to the coil terminal marked - (Minus) It is now hot wired, it should start if all else is OK That wire out of the distributor was an armored cable with a ''pop out" ignition lock that did break the connection when you shut the car ignition switch off..( inside, where it is screwed into the distributor). Some armored cables have been cut off exposing the wire. Some could be messed up and not making contact inside the distributor. To test points: Run a test light to the coil terminal + then ground one end of that test light. When the points are open, the light will be on. When the points are closed, the light is out. There are plenty of reports of bad condensers on Model A's. I have had bad ones myself.
If you don’t know a lot of history you might want to check top dead center with the “pin’ bolt on the water pump to make sure your not 180° out... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
F@J that's just what I was looking for! Thanks! That explains the armored cable. I thought that was kinda strange. Thank you very much, I'll give it a shot. He is an older guy. I help him from time to time. He just brought this thing home and got overly excited. The wiring was pretty frayed and shot, but he ripped it all out then got me and said, can you just make it run?
F&J is on it. If the vehicle is positive ground, the points lead from the distributor connects to the + terminal of the coil. When the points momentarily close it grounds the primary windings in the ignition coil. The negative terminal of the coil supplies the current to the primary windings from the - side of the battery. If you need to dig in a bit deeper on ignition troubleshooting you might check out the link below. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hot-rod-technical-library-basic-ignition-systems.983424/
while we're on the subject, can anyone say why ford changed which side of the coil to put power to? its true, read the old books,
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