hey guys, hopefully this is a quick question.
I've had all sorts of fun with my Dart lately, but I'll try to condense it a bit.


I got myself a crappy multimeter and checked my ignition coil per the directions in the service manuals (negative battery cable off, high tension on) and got 2.4 ohms. I also cranked it to the highest setting for ohms and checked the case of the coil, and got a bunch of different numbers as I moved the probe around.

This all tells me that it's bad, correct?

My next question... which replacement?
It looks like the one I have (which I'm pulling today) is a Standard, with the regular metal case. So, the cheap one.

The car is basically bare bones as far as the engine. There's no heater, A/C, radio, power steering... nothing extra in the electrical area. It's still got points. Plugs are correct (when pulled after roughly 500-750 miles and the 1st and 5th in firing order where lightly ashy, but the last four were damned near new looking, if not a little gassy).

Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

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1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

I went through 2 MSD blaster coils, one was intermittent and
lose spark when hot. the 2nd was intermittent spark but not
consistent broken.
this was within about 6 years of use.

Now i have NAPA standard echlin and so far about 1 year and
still good.

MSD Blaster coils used to be good when they were made in Mexico. Now they're made in China with that country's usual "quality". :barf:

I have one last new-in-box MSD Blaster coil made before the move to China; whoever wants to buy it, send me a PM.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I do not see it should be bad from your measurements. Is there a solid visible spark when you crank the engine over with the coil high tension wire disconnected from the dist and held 1/8" from a ground on the car engine or body?

If you want to try a new one, I would suggest getting a stock replacement coil for your engine. Standard ignition or Napa should be decent parts, although I have not bought one in a while.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

If I had weak output or no spark from a points ignition system I'd probably replace the points & condensor before the coil (burned-oxidized points or a bad condensor will really hurt coil output).

Actually, if I had a points system I'd convert to electronic ignition or HEI.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

Yep, I have points. I'm one if those jerks that insists on keeping everything original, until I finally snap one day and convert absolutely everything

After removing the coil and testing it off the car, it's showing 4.5 ohms, so this thing's had it.

_________________
1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

Dan-

Here's the plugs, provided that I don't mess up posting the pic...


They're in order (not firing order) as they'd be if they were in the block.

The ash on #1 disappeared after I ran it for a mile with the new wires.

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1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

So, I've gotten to the point now where Dan and I decided that the coil I have seems to be ok. It's a Blaster 2, so 4.5 ohms should be correct.

I've got new UR5 plugs, and I had gotten new plug wires, but I switched back to the old wires for the moment, because the car hasn't run since they were on there. Once I have it running well, I plan to put the new wires back on to see if anything changes.

I've removed the distributor several times now, and made sure all the wires are in their proper place.
Since I had to basically start over with the rotor position (knowing the timing was wrong in the first place), I rotated the engine by hand, and watched the valves on number one, and stopped it just on the beginning of the exhaust stroke, and set the rotor to just beyond the contact for number one.

At first, I had a nice backfire through the carb. I advanced it a bit at a time, and got it to backfire out the tail, and as I've advanced bit by bit, it's starting to try to start for longer periods before it backfires out the tail again. The backfires themselves seem quieter now too.

My question is: does this all tell me that I'm getting closer to where it'll actually start? It seems to me that the firing out the carb is due to combustion occurring while the intake stroke is still open, whereas firing out the tail is it combusting after the exhaust stroke has begun opening. Correct?
So, since it's backfiring... the timing is too far advanced?

Should I just take a walk to a parts store and get that TDC tool that you put in the plug hole?
Am I fighting a losing battle by trying to find TDC by watching the valves and adjusting from there?

_________________
1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

Your method is off, if you're are setting to EXHAUST stroke for #1 cylinder, which starts at BDC- after the power stroke. For firing #1 you want to turn the crank to reach TDC on the compression stroke- then have the distributor rotor point at/just past #1 wire tower. It's about 180* past when the intake valve closes.

You can use a long skinny screwdriver or 1/4" extension down the spark plug hole to watch piston movement in #1 when you're near TDC(be careful not to jamb the tool against the piston & scratch the cylinder wall). A piston stop tool is better if you want to verify or correct the TDC timing marks on the balancer pulley.

You can use #1's companion cyl -#6 -to check TDC if it's easier to reach. Both reach TDC at the same time, they're just 360* apart in the 4-stroke IC process. #1 is TDC compression when #6 is TDC exhaust & vice-versa.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

I just realized I should probably also add that I can only get the engine to spin backward. It slips when I try to go in the direction that the engine turns, so I have to do everything backward. Therefore, the rotor spins counterclockwise, and the valves are moving in the opposite order they normally would.

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1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

If I assume you're using the radiator fan to turn things, the fix for that is to temporarily (over)tighten the alternator belt until it doesn't slip, then you can rotate the engine in its normal clockwise direction. Or clean up the hole in the crank snout & get a proper bolt & washer on the harmonic balancer.

It still sounds like you're off. When any piston goes up on the compression stroke towards TDC, both valves should be closed. When the piston goes down on the power stroke, both valves should be closed. Either way you slice it (or rotate the engine) you shouldn't have valve movement anywhere near your ignition event. (the exhaust valve starts to open roughly 180* after your plug fires).

Remember your 4 cycles of the IC engine. Start at TDC on exh stroke; 1) Int Valve opens & piston goes down on int stroke, 2)near BDC Int V closes & piston goes up on comp stroke, 3) plug fires just before TDC & piston goes down on power stroke, 4) Exh Valve opens near BDC & piston goes up on exh stroke- Exh V closes near TDC.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

Well after a few days of trial and error, I finally got it to fire up yesterday. They must've heard me celebrating blocks away.

Right now I've got it in the ballpark. It ran well enough for me to smooth it out with the available adjustment room, at least enough to get it to stop shaking like a leaf, but once I killed it and let it cool down, it got shaky again.
I'm going to play around with it some more today.

I swapped my new spark cables back to the old ones, since the car actually ran with them on, and never did with the new ones. Once I get it to start consistently I'm going to switch again and see if the new ones are crap. They're Standards.

Next I get to move on to my negative camber!! Woo!!

_________________
1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"