At 02:19 PM 06/08/2000 -0400, you wrote, re your ballast wire:
>from the coil. Yes the wire was tan&pink and had woven insulation.
>Glen said it had "special resistance wire". I replaced it with 12 guage
>solid copper wire.
The fabric-covered wire is definitely a ballast wire on the 74 TR6. I
think you said you spliced the copper wire into only a portion of the
resistance wire. Like I said, it will run but it is not optimum. The
place to start is to decide whether you want to stay with a ballasted
system, or go completely to a non-ballasted system. You change components
as required. I would not stay with the "half-fixed" ballast wire, as is.
Also, you could have more burned spots, back inside the harness where you
can't see them.
>Also, from within the
>wrapping of the tape on the harness there seemed to be a black oily
>substance. Graphite perhaps? Or did this come from within the "special
>resistance wire"?
Nah, I think it's just melted residue from the vinyl tape-wrap of the harness.
>Were I to change to a Lucas Sport coil would I even need this wire to go
>to it?
The Lucas coil wants full 12-14V on its input. So, you could just snip
your old ballast wire out of there, covering the end so it can't short on
the fender or whatever. But then you still have to run a 12V wire from
somewhere, to replace it (the "other" wire on the same coil terminal brings
the 12V during cranking only). This means it has to have 12V on it
whenever the key is "on." They use white wires in this case. You can pick
it up at the fuse box or at the relay which bypasses the ballast wire after
starting. In my case, I followed the ballast wire back under the dash to
where it originates, at a bundled terminal with several white wires joining
it. This is in the area of the wiper switch. I soldered in a new white
wire there, and disconnected the old ballast wire. I ran the new wire out
to the coil input.
>And, lastly, will any coil do? I would think not since I had gotten one
>two weeks ago from Pep Boys - a Borg-Warner is all I know and it didn't
>seem to have enough kick to really excite the car to start
>enthusiasticly.
If you already threw away the box, or the coil has no helpful markings,
first thing to do is find out whether the store sold you a coil for a
ballasted or non-ballasted ignition. It sounds like maybe you didn't
specify. It's possible their parts book overlooks the early/late TR6 coil
difference. And that goes back to my earlier point... you have to decide
which system you want to end up with. Reminder: be sure to read Dan's
article on the VTR site. He is a recognized TR electrical expert!
>Sooo, where do I go from here? How long can I drive with the weird wire
>I have?
Probably quite a while, but your points will go away sooner, and you might
have trouble with overall tuning gremlins. Some people say the elevated
input voltage you have now can damage the coil itself; I don't know.
Question: What prompted the new coil? Did the ballast wire burn up after
you put on that new coil, or before? I don't think you told us.
Good luck,
Glenn
San Diego TR6's
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