Crane fireball ignition system

[Crazy477280Z]

Is any one out there knowledgable about the Crane Fireball ignition system? I have a 83 zx turbo I bought about a month ago.When I first got car, I had to tear dash and heater out and go through all wiring. PO had a dual battery system installed with fuel pump relayed through rear battery Ive got everything back as close to stock wiring as Ime able,not being too electrically adept myself. Ive got fuel pump operating through relay, as Iwasnt able to get power back to fuel pump through stock wiring, even though all relays tested good.Anyway, thats all solved.My problem now is that Ime getting no spark. Ihave a Crane Fireball HI 6S ignition system with universal magnetic trigger.Ialso have stock coil along with a Crane LX91 coil. when I turn ignition over, little red LED light does not come on, even though Ido have power to unit.Also I cant seem to get either coil to spark, but Itook stock coil off 83zx and installed it on my 77 z, and it fired right up. Possibly any ideas out there on how to troubleshoot system. All I can find online is install instructions but not much on troubleshooting systeAny advice would be appreciatted. Thank you.

 

[Zed Head]

57 minutes ago, Crazy477280Z said:

 Ihave a Crane Fireball HI 6S ignition system with universal magnetic trigger.

1983 turbo systems use a CAS to the ECU and the ECU controls the coil.  The universal magnetic trigger implies that you don't have the 1983 turbo system.  What's controlling the EFI on your engine?

 

[Crazy477280Z]

What is CAS? I dont know as of yet. I just figured out ign. system wasnt working right before I knocked off for day.PO added so many aftermarket parts that Ime going to have a difficult time with this not being well versed and uncomfortable with electrical issues. I have figured out brake light-taillight-blower motor and fuel pump elect. and wiring issues, so Ime not a completly lost cause, just mostly.As for where EFI gets input from, I dont know yet. PO went z31 ecu with hybrid T3/T4 turbo-intercooler-turbo boost controller-turbo timer-in cockpit crane retard control-cobra MAF/AFM-420cc injectors-Crane ign. system.He went through Jim Wolf tech. for all this building up to a possible 450hp. I bought her for 3500.00 a moth ago not running, and I would like to hear it run soon. Its going to take me a bit to figure this out, but hopefully,with some advice from others better versed in elect. issues, I will get this figured out,and get this sweet little ZX on the road and out of my garage,so I can work on my other Zs andZXs.Thanks again.

 

 

 

[Crazy477280Z]

OK...CAS is crank angle sensor according to EFI schematic Zed Head sent me.{thanks Zed} Iwill compare what is installed on car tomorrow,and hopefully I can make sense of whats there.Ime going to do some homework on CAS, because Ime not educated on that ign. setup.I will have more info tomorrow.Have a good night all.

 

 

[Zed Head]

8 hours ago, Crazy477280Z said:

 so Ime not a completly lost cause, just mostly.As for where EFI gets input from, I dont know yet. PO went z31 ecu with hybrid T3/T4 turbo-intercooler-turbo boost controller-turbo timer-in cockpit crane retard control-cobra MAF/AFM-420cc injectors-Crane ign. system.He went through Jim Wolf tech. for all this building up to a possible 450hp. I bought her for 3500.00 a moth ago not running, and I would like to hear it run soon. Its going to take me a bit to figure this out, but hopefully,with some advice from others better versed in elect. issues, I will get this figured out,and get this sweet little ZX on the road and out of my garage,so I can work on my other Zs andZXs.Thanks again.

You have a completely different animal than a 1983 280ZX turbo engine management system.  Better be careful, these engines blow head gaskets or break rings easily when turbo'ed.

The Z31 ECU uses a CAS also.  Open a 1984-87 FSM EFEC chapter to see the details.  Your Crane ignition box might be wired for universal trigger, but that's probably not what's under the distributor cap.  The ECU triggers the ignition.

You have more than a little bit of time and effort in front of you.  Should be fun though.

[Chickenman]

Mitchel. I've been using Crane Ignition boxes since the late 90's and am pretty familiar with them. You say you have a Crane Fireball HI6-S... is that correct? The S designates an a Multi-Spark INDUCTION box and these particular boxes can NOT be triggered from a Magnetic or Hall sensor. They must be triggered by a square wave 12V signal such as that from an OEM Ignition module. In essence, the Hi6-S  box is a " Piggy Back " system that works in parallel

with te OEM Electronic Ignition or ECU.

Quote from Crane HI6-S instructions:

Trigger: Connect the white HI-6S wire to all O.E. wires that were removed from the Coil- terminal above. The white wire is the trigger input to the HI-6S. It requires a 12 volt signal, such as that from the output of an O.E. ignition module. This type of trigger signal is sometimes referred to as a “module” or ”points” trigger signal.    Note: the HI-6S cannot be triggered directly from a Hall Effect or magnetic pickup.

 

Crane HI-6S Instructions PDF

 

The Crane Fireball HI-6 ( No " S "  in model number ) is the Capacitor Discharge model and this does have multiple Trigger options for Magnetic, Hall, Optical and Points triggers.

 

Edit: The Crane HI-6 CD model is about twice the size of the Induction model.

 

The HI-6 CD model is Part #: 6000-64XX

 

The HI-6S Induction model is Part #: 6000-6300

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2016 by Chickenman
Edited Link

[Zed Head]

He'd be using the 5 volt square wave from the Z31 ECU, if anything.  He has a lot more to think about than just the Crane box.  Better understand all of it before taking it out on the road.

And he said he has an " in cockpit crane retard control".  Which would be the Crane HI-6 TRC CD.  Lots of stuff to figure out.

 

[Crazy477280Z]

I do have the 9300 model so I dont know why magnetic trigger box is there. Ime not familiar with the CPS ignition setup. something went wrong with my laptop so all I have to get online with is my XBOX 360 which does not download. So Ime not able to access FSM from xenon. All I know at this time is that I have 0 voltage to or from CPS with ign. on. I need to know what pin number on ECU is tasked to the CPS.And I do have 84 to 89 ECU from 300zx.{Z-31}

[Crazy477280Z]

Excuse me....6300 model-HI-6S.

 

[Zed Head]

Not sure what you mean by "CPS".  You really need to browse through the Z31 EFEC chapter to see how the ignition power transistor is triggered.  Your Crane box is taking the place of the power transistor.  It doesn't get power all the time when the key is On (if that's what you meant by CPS).  No offense, but you are way behind where you should be to safely get that engine running.  And I mean safe for the engine.  You thought you had a magnetic trigger in the distributor because you have a magnetic trigger Crane box, and now you're checking for power at the Crane box with the key on.  You have enough information to figure it out but I don't think it's going to happen on an XBOX.  

As I said, no offense intended.  Your stumbling and fumbling at this point though.  A good computer and internet connection is an important tool.

Edit - you probably meant CAS instead of CPS.  Diagnosing the CAS is a problem that everybody has.  The best description I've seen is on Hybridz.  Scroll down to "Dizzy Wire Colors!"  - http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/23244-megasquirtnspark-mssmsns-installation-guide/ 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Zed Head

[Chickenman]

12 hours ago, Crazy477280Z said:

Excuse me....6300 model-HI-6S.

 

OK, so that model does not have a magnetic trigger of any sort. You just leave the stock system in place and wire the HI-6S in at the coil. It will be triggered from the stock system.    Do you have the HI-6S instruction sheet or PDF?

 

[Chickenman]

13 hours ago, Zed Head said:

He'd be using the 5 volt square wave from the Z31 ECU, if anything.  He has a lot more to think about than just the Crane box.  Better understand all of it before taking it out on the road.

And he said he has an " in cockpit crane retard control".  Which would be the Crane HI-6 TRC CD.  Lots of stuff to figure out.

 

Crane HI-6S requires 12 volt square wave signal, not 5 volt.  

Crane cockpit retard control is available separately for both the HI-6 CD box and HI-6S Induction box. 

Edited May 4, 2016 by Chickenman