Upgrade Points Distributor To Fire With A TFI Module
- Thread starter Frank
- Start date
I imagine the old copper core wires may still be available. I watched the guys on Roadkill Garage ruin 2 MSD boxes AND a HEI module in a few hundred mile road trip. Finally realized he had solid core plug wires. The noise did wipe out the MSD in a few hours, I was surprised. They were mounted inside the car too.
I don't know what the plug wires are on the old Rambler, with TFI ignition it doesn't matter.
Solid copper wires will induce a high enough voltage in a parallel plug wire to create a spark in the wrong cylinder. Pre-ignition.
We had that happen in one of our engines where we didn't realize the plug wires were solid. Almost lost the engine.
By the same token, any trigger wire that has to run any distance from a distributor with solid core plug wires to trigger an external module or unit will have a high voltage induced in it and will destroy the trigger circuitry despite the location of the unit.
The TFI module is no exception and may be more vulnerable since it has additional trigger circuitry to control dwell time.
The only saving grace of the TFI module is that it is not a high output device and creates a lot less of an electromagnetic field around the plug wires and the TFI trigger wire would have to be closer to the coil and plug wires to get damaged.
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Really good to know! Thanks, knowledge gained.
gb500, that's a great question, and I should have addressed it already.
Yes the condenser is still in service. Here's the story- have heard some advocate that it needs to be removed. And that sounds logical to me too. But on the Rambler (the one on this thread), I was so annoyed with the trouble to get to and work inside the dist, that once the module was in, and it ran well, I didn't remove the condenser. I have not opened the distributor cap since before the module.
As an aside, the module install was done because when I went to change points after buying the car, I could not get them set right, there's no direct line of sight plus the almost perpendicular angle. I got so PO'd I pulled the distributor out of the engine to get the points and everything else in there set right, and swore I was not going to change those points again.
On the '69 240 engine with factory points distributor, I removed the condenser when setting up the distributor/module system. It had an infrequent intermittent miss. Obvious it was a split-second ignition drop-out. Randomly, once every 3-5 minutes. I reinstalled the condenser and it has not done that since. I don't know if the condenser was the cure of itself, or perhaps something else was amiss. It quit missing when put back in, and, like the Rambler, I have not opened it up since.
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Agree. And no change to the factory advance curves played a big role in my decision.
THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
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Just like the wagon my parents had when I was a child. They took the family of six to Florida on a vacation in it once. How we survived is beyond me, but good memories nonetheless.
Thanks for the heads up about a points TFI setup.
standard 1st procedure in the day for more than this 1 M/M/Y.
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