New electronic ignition install, not working

rp23g7 · Mar 10, 2015

So I bought the Summit Mopar electronic ignition kit, this one http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-850005 as the Mopar Performance one was not available.

Its got a orange box, I mounted the box to the front passenger fender, by the horn, as the headers create a lot of heat, so I didn't want it on the firewall.

I attached the black wire to the negative side of the coil, and I spliced the blue wire into the single blue wire on the ballast resistor.

Dropped the distributor in, and tried starting, nothing, not even a cough, like it was trying to start.

Seems like no spark, where should I check for power on the box to see if its putting out power?

Lets Roll · Mar 10, 2015

I guess you could pull a spark plug wire and get a plug set it on steel and see if its sparking. If you have a meter you could check to see if there's power on the positive side of coil with ignition on.

hunt2elk · Mar 10, 2015

Did you make sure the box is grounded good?

440beep · Mar 10, 2015

A definite must. I've seen it be recommended to grind the paint off the back of the ECU box where the mounting screw will go then run a ground wire from that mounting screw to another good body ground.

hunt2elk said:
Did you make sure the box is grounded good?

lewtot184 · Mar 10, 2015

ground the box.

mopar 3 B · Mar 10, 2015

monaco66coupe · Mar 10, 2015

Very correct, Chrysler made two boxes, one is coated with a composite, so you have to Install a ground wire from the box to the body. The metal box without the coating will ground fine. Which one do you have?

rp23g7 · Mar 21, 2015

Thanks for the replies, I haven't had time to troubleshoot,

I ground the paint of the fender, and I ground the back of the box down, I also took a pure copper ground cable from work, mounted one side of the box on it, and removed the horn and ground the paint off that area, and mounted the other end of the cable to the radiator support. pics attached, I will rearrange the spaghetti later. I will check the wiring this weekend.

440beep · Mar 22, 2015

additional support

View attachment 246616

cr8crshr · Mar 22, 2015

I don't want to put a negative spin on this mod because I use it on my '66 Satellite. But, the orange boxes are notorious for failure even when brand new. My suggestion would be to purchase the chrome box as it performs so much better than the orange one. A little more on the cost side but I have been running them exclusively with not a single issue. Just a thought is all. Good Luck with it as it is a great upgrade...cr8crshr/Tuck

66Satellite47 · Mar 29, 2015

cr8crshr said:
I don't want to put a negative spin on this mod because I use it on my '66 Satellite. But, the orange boxes are notorious for failure even when brand new. My suggestion would be to purchase the chrome box as it performs so much better than the orange one. A little more on the cost side but I have been running them exclusively with not a single issue. Just a thought is all. Good Luck with it as it is a great upgrade...cr8crshr/Tuck

Ya X2. Hope the good ground solved the problem, seen that issue for many decades now. It seems the orange box may not have the best output at high RPM (+5000) too, if that matters.

barbee6043 · Mar 30, 2015

I will work on it some today. ground is good for sure. the dist I added is used. I will try to use the meter to troubleshooot. thanks for all the input!

New electronic ignition install, not working

rp23g7

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Lets Roll

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hunt2elk

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440beep

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lewtot184

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mopar 3 B

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monaco66coupe

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rp23g7

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440beep

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cr8crshr

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66Satellite47

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barbee6043

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