1990 OMC Cobra 5.7
In the process of converting over to electronic ignition with hot spark module and pertronix flame thrower 1.5 ohm coil. I got everything installed and using my stock coil and got the timing set to 8 degrees BTDC. It was running great but I took two additional steps that introduced a big problem.
1) Installed the flame thrower coil
2) Ran a wire from + on the coil to the ignition switch
After making these changes when I turned the key the engine cranked for a second then everything went dead. The volt meter showed only a couple volts with the key on and the engine would not crank at all. I unhooked the wire I ran from the ignition switch to the coil...still the same thing. I then pulled the purple wire from the ignition switch and the engine would turn over again. I then reconnected my wire to the coil and it started right up. I checked the purple wire under the dash and did not find anything abnormal. I then reconnected it to the ignition switch and everything seems to be working fine again.
I want to find out the root cause of this and avoid ruining all of the hard work on the electronic conversion. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Is there a better place to tap an ignition switched 12 volt lead to the + on the coil? Was running the wire to the ignition switch a bad idea?
In the process of converting over to electronic ignition with hot spark module and pertronix flame thrower 1.5 ohm coil. I got everything installed and using my stock coil and got the timing set to 8 degrees BTDC. It was running great but I took two additional steps that introduced a big problem.
1) Installed the flame thrower coil
2) Ran a wire from + on the coil to the ignition switch
After making these changes when I turned the key the engine cranked for a second then everything went dead. The volt meter showed only a couple volts with the key on and the engine would not crank at all. I unhooked the wire I ran from the ignition switch to the coil...still the same thing. I then pulled the purple wire from the ignition switch and the engine would turn over again. I then reconnected my wire to the coil and it started right up. I checked the purple wire under the dash and did not find anything abnormal. I then reconnected it to the ignition switch and everything seems to be working fine again.
I want to find out the root cause of this and avoid ruining all of the hard work on the electronic conversion. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Is there a better place to tap an ignition switched 12 volt lead to the + on the coil? Was running the wire to the ignition switch a bad idea?