Voltaje to the Coil

[GILDIA]

Hi, does anyone knows what is the voltaje and the amps that the coil receives in the BW (Black - White) wire?

[ALConfederate]

You should have 12V when the key is in RUN, and (assuming you have a ballast resistor?) around 9-10V when the key is in START. Dunno about amps; that's what? a 14GA wire, and that won't handle very many amps without melting, even in a 14.4VDC system.

ALC

[beandip]

This should read opposite 8 to 9 volts in the run position and 12v in the start. The engine starts on 12 v and runs on 8. That is on a 240 ignition. On a ZX it is all 12v Don't remember on the 280Z. Gary

[ALConfederate]

Aaaargh! That's right; thank you for the correction, sir.

ALC

[GILDIA]

Thank you so it will be

8-9 V on run

12 on start

What if I dont have a BR and I have a 3 ohms coil? will it still be the same?

[Zs-ondabrain]

As per our PM's, You already checked for continuity and that was OK. But I'm thinking maybe it's time to upgrade the Distributor and lose the Ballast resistor all-together. The 79' 280ZX electronic dizzy is a very popular swap around here. Use the "Search" button to find all the needed info on it. They are usually $75 or less and as low as $5 at most pull-a-part yards.

And then replace the Coil with something like a Blaster 2 from MSD? The nice thing about this set-up is the lack of checking the gap and dwell on the points and not having to deal with points anymore. Your other choices are the obvious Pertronics and Fireball ignition.

I'm not positive on the whole Voltage Thing but hopefully upgrading should eliminate a few problems. and help with better spark which will increase your power or fuel milage.

JMO

Dave.

[ALConfederate]

Well, without the resistor there will be no current limiting, so you'll have 12 VDC full-time.

A 3 ohm coil -- you have carbs, right? You'll still see 12 VDC on both sides of the coil.

You asked about amperage earlier; just for kicks and giggles plug 3 ohms into the Ohm's Law equation V=IR, with V = 12 and it comes out to 4 amps. Now you know.

And Dave is right -- upgrade that puppy if you can! I started playing with cars when breaker points were all we had and the hot ticket was a dual-point plate for your distributor. You'll be much happier with an electronic ignition system of some sort!

Dave M.

[GILDIA]

I upgrade the distribuitor to the Pertronix ignitor so i wont have to use a BR and I replace the coil with a 3 Ohms coil also by pertronix