Thread: A freshen up for Willy

will do for sure Gav! what have you got left to do to it? It'll be good at least to be able to go camping whenever I want.. If I can get Willy going again in time that is
heres my update, I measured the cylinders before I put the head back on. They were all 90.50mm. I'm sure my measurements won't be spot on but will hopefully give me an idea what I'll be up against next time I pull it apart.

Anyway I decided to put the manifolds and carby on the head while it was still on the bench, I wanted to make sure all the gaskets were on properly and 100% sealed. Downside to this was making the head too heavy to lower onto the block by hand so I used my engine hoist to lower it on. Had to pull the bullbar off to get the hoist close enough to the car but that was no drama.

The electronic ignition kit came in the post yesterday! took me a while to work out how to get the leads into the distributor cap but I worked it all out in the end. I'm pretty happy with the kit as a whole I think it'll be a big improvement. I'm hoping so anyway!!!! I've never actually set up a distributor
before but I think I got it close enough to start.. got number 1 to TDC on a compression stroke, threw in the distributor so the vacuum hose would be neat and adjusted it so the rotar button was striking a point on the cap, made that number 1 and followed in the firing order. Does that sound right?
I'm not sure how I need to wire up the coil now??? I plugged the power that was supplied to the ballast resistor straight into the + on the coil, then ran from + on the coil to the + on the distributor.. what do I do with the negative though?

I just need to get a sump and rocker cover gasket, throw them on. Finish wiring up the ignition system and hopefully I can fire him up!!! I'll put up some pics of the ignition kit when I can.

Cheers, Andy

Just got the transfer case back together today, and hopefully stuff that in tomorrow and connect the drive shafts. After that, just the interior to put back in, and tidy up some wiring. I've still got 3 weeks until I go back to work, so will be close by then.

Anyway, back to Willy - Is there wiring instructions with the kit? On a standard (points) setup, the negative is switched through the points to the coil, and the positive is run from the main ignition supply. Not sure what kit you have - can you post some details and I'll see what I can work out.

Probably just needs the negative run from the dizzy to the coil. Is there a wire for that?

Cheers - Gav.

It's an accuspark kit I got from the UK through Ebay. There were a few bits of paper explaining how to set up the electric accuspark distributor to your existing coil but not how to wire up the whole kit from scratch? you can see there's a plug on the disributor with + and - so I'm guessing it just a case of running them to the coil? The ballast resistor was.. well I'm guessing just a resistor so the power that was supplied to that should be right to go straight into the coil? What would the 2nd - prong on the coil be used for? a tacho??

Ok, looks like it is just the two wires from the dizzy - the positive (red) wire to the + side of the coil, and the negative (black) wire to the - side of the coil. The only other wire is the positive feed to the coil from the ignition, so it sounds like you are on the right track.

Is the coil one that was supplied with the kit? If so, then the ballast resistor needs to be removed from the circuit, it sounds like you have done this already. Once all that is done, you should be able to start it if you have the timing set close enough. You will need a timing light to set it properly, but then you should be done no never have to dick around with points again.

Found this on the net that explains it well - http://www.accuspark.co.uk/fitting_guide.html
Figure 1a is what you need yours to look like.
Let us know how you go.

Thanks Gav! didn't realise they had a website, but that seems pretty clear to me. The ignition is all wired up now, I got a little carried away with the wiring effort yesterday and ended up replacing and re wiring the auxiliary fuse box too..
I stumbled across a site that said it would be beneficial to run the coil off a relay so it has more power? Might give it a go in a few weeks and see if i can pick an improvent. Can't imagine it would do much...I'm greatly looking forward to my first test run! just need to get that sump and rocker cover gasket... might go to four wheel drives in blackburn tommorow so I can get what I need... I just hate the crap quality of the stuff they sell... would rather get britpart from the UK. Takes ages to get here though. Good luck with the rangie mate! looking forward to checking it out

cheers, Andy

I"ve sorted out the ignition now, well wiring it all up anyway! I have spark and everything seems to be alright except for my efforts setting up the distributor I've tried a number of times to get him going and have done abit of research on the topic but can't manage to get the distributor set up well enouigh to start the car!! particulalry annoying........ I can't work out what I'm doing wrong? I think I may not have reached TDC correctly before I put the distributor in place. I tried a couple of times after some research each time but havn't had any luck. From what I understand the cylinder is only on a compression stroke every second revolutoin. So If i get to TDC after the inlet valve has closed am I on the compression stroke?
Are there any easy pointers anyone has for me in ragards to setting up the distributor?

Thanks, Andy

Originally Posted by Andwoo

I"ve sorted out the ignition now, well wiring it all up anyway! I have spark and everything seems to be alright except for my efforts setting up the distributor I've tried a number of times to get him going and have done abit of research on the topic but can't manage to get the distributor set up well enouigh to start the car!! particulalry annoying........ I can't work out what I'm doing wrong? I think I may not have reached TDC correctly before I put the distributor in place. I tried a couple of times after some research each time but havn't had any luck. From what I understand the cylinder is only on a compression stroke every second revolutoin. So If i get to TDC after the inlet valve has closed am I on the compression stroke?
Are there any easy pointers anyone has for me in ragards to setting up the distributor?

Thanks, Andy

If you just put in a new one. It may be possible that the dizzy is out by 180 degrees. Same thing happened to me when I replaced mine.

Wolf

I agree with Wolf Andy. Try spinning it 180 degrees and see what happens - it will be the quickest thing to check.