My motor CB perform, runs good, but recently after good warm up, say 20 miles. The motor cut off for a few seconds and starts back. I also had a few good back fires. My mechanical friend said it sounds like timing or points. What do you guys think?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Possibly coil is going bad. I would start with electrical.
That happened to me a couple of times. x2 on the coil.
John, it's dead simple to convert from points to electronic ignition. Inexpensive...set it and forget it. Maybe $65 .
thank you guys for the feedback
Could also be a bad ground or a bad/hinky ignition switch. Or as simple as the condenser on the side of the distributor.
mine used to cut off when hot and ten minutes later be restartable... dx Coil
First, You need to find out what ignition is in the car. What color is the distributor cap, this will tell me what ignition is in it. If it's grey, it's our magnaspark, if it's black or reddish/orange, it's a standard VW style distributor.
John - It's not one of those see thru red plastic ones, is i? They are low quality. The Bosch caps are a red-orange clay looking (bakelite for old folks) cap.
If the cap is red and does not look like the one Wolfgang posted above, you have an MSD distributor. By chance, is this a Intermeccanica? I think at one time he was installing MSD ignitions in my engines, I only build him longblocks with carbs. Let me know if the cap is red or like the one Wolfgang posted.
I think I should replace the coil, current one MSD 2 part # 8202. Local NAPA dealer asked if it had internal or external resistor. A VW parts dealer asked me if "VW style or Promaster style?" Any opinions
That coil has 0.7 Ohms primary resistance. It would need an (2.3 ohm) external ballast resistor if controlled with points (mech or elec). It wouldn't use a ballast resistor if controlled from an MSD ignition box.
If you replace the coil with something else, it's easy enough to just get a 3 ohm coil for points use so you don't have to worry about the extra ballast resistor.
A ballast resistor is just a rougly 2 inch long rectangular ceramic or metal case thing mounted inline with the wire going to the positive side of the coil. It should be pretty easy to spot. For example:
An MSD ignition box would be real easy to spot if you had one:
But frankly if things were working well before, I would suggest just replacing the coil with one with the same primary resistance rather than try to mess with the existing setup.
If it has an MSD box and the distributor cap is red, it has an MSD distributor with a magnetic pick up. This distributor will only work with the MSD box or a similar style multi spark box. You do not need a ballast resistor when using the external msd box and the MSD distributor.
Have you pulled the distributor cap off and inspected it? Pay close attention to the carbon tip that the rotor makes contact with. These are prone to wear out on that distributor. Also, the cable that runs from the distributor to the msd box, "green and violet wires" are prone to pick up ignition noise. Make sure this cable is not coiled up and placed by any plug wires or coil wire.
And if either the purple or green wires get chafed, or wet, or grounded, you WILL have ignition problems. I believe if you short the two wires with a switch, it makes a very easy to install ignition kill.
New coil same problem. I will take a look at the things Pat Downs suggested
When reading some of Mickey's old posts about this car, he mentioned the same problem. I don't think I saw him mention whether or not he ever sorted it out.
