I am trying to go back to a stock coil and resistor set-up on my 73. A previous owner balled-up the wiring for these - looks like he used a piece of an old table lamp power cord to hook things up.

I was hoping that someone could snap a picture of their stock set-up so that I know what the wiring ought to like like. Can anyone help?

Here is a 72:

Here is 73:

Edited July 28, 201113 yr by Blue

Again, pardon my ignorance but, in the top drawing, what is GW and BW - is that the color of the wire (green and white, blue and white?)? What gauge wire is proper for these connections? Again, if someone has an actual picture of this set-up, I would appreciate them posting it. It's like the picture on the box of a jigsaw puzzle - I want to know what it is supposed to look like when it's done.

Thanks to anyone who can help!

G/W is green/white-trace, B/W is black/white-trace. (Blue is L in Nissan-wiring-speak.) Pictures are tough to decipher as well, as they generally don't show wires well. I could try to get a picture of my '71, but it's no longer totally stock, has extra wires for the Pertronix EI.

If your car was originally a manual transmission car, there should be four wires in the general area of the coil. One G/W, one Black, and two B/W. I don't know the gauge of these wires, but it's not different than any of the other wires on the car. Same as that of the headlights, for example.

The resistor should have the G/W at one end, and a B/W at the other. Doesn't really matter if you swap ends, still works the same.

The coil needs the other B/W to the positive terminal and the solid Black (which should run directly to the distributor) at the negative terminal. If you have a condenser mounted near the coil, don't connect it at all at this time. If connected wrong they can mess up troubleshooting, and it's only there for radio suppression and not really necessary. (I've removed mine totally.)

To tell the two B/Ws apart, leave them both disconnected for a test. With the ignition off, both should have 0 volts. Turn the ignition switch to the Run position and test both. One should have close to battery voltage (~12 volts), the other should still be zero. The one that got power in the Run position should connect to the resistor, the other to the coil.

Edited August 11, 201113 yr by Arne

Thanks for the heads-up on the condenser near the coil. I do have one attached to the resistor with a wire that goes back to the coil. If I did want to replace that, is it the same type of condenser that is used on the distributor? I've never seen it in any of the parts catalogs.

Edited August 12, 201113 yr by jharvat

I can't say for certain. Like you, I've never been able to find it mentioned anywhere. I suspect it is more similar to the one at the voltage regulator, not the one on the distributor. The one at the coil caused me serious problems when I was trying to get my Pertronix to work. I have removed it totally now, in part because I don't know for certain which coil terminal (+ or -) to connect it to. And with today's modern suppression wires, plugs, etc., it's not at all needed.