Morris Minor Owners Club

my 1957 morris minor has had electric ignition put on it its a 45d accuspark electronic ignition distributor and i had to put a new dyno on it and coil , i wired it up but its wont start now it turns over but i have no spark i think i spoke to the guy that did it and he was talking about positive earth or something about ti being backwards im sorry to sound stupid but i really dont get it and i have wired it up using the original wiring diagram , also the new dyno just randomly started spinning at one , really need some help i bet its easy when you know what to do

thanks chris

Hi Chris. Welcome to the forum. First of all, which terminal on your battery has the earth strap to the body, Pos + or Neg - ?

The accuspark MUST be used on a negative earth car. If you fitted it to a positive earth car it's probably ruined...... Why did you need a new coil????? Dynamo spinning means it is running as a motor - the contacts in the regulator must have been/are closed. How did all this start?? Why did it need these new parts?

right this is my old minor, its running negative earth and was running negative earth when i sold it to chris, so unless hes unknowingly reconverted it, it still is running negative earth.

Good - the dizzy should be ok then!

i had to get a new dyno beacsuae the bracket broke on the old one so the belt didnt turn the wheel and when i took the coil off the spade contacts were so perished they literaly crumbled off i have wired it up as if it is all standeard and the car wont fire its running negative earth

back off the distributer and it will probally fire up i only fitted one to a friends car last week .ie loosen the clamp and turn the body clockwise you then turn it till it starts to pink then back off slightly .

The spade contacts on the coil are easily renewed...... The bracket broke ?? Which bracket -and how on earth did that happen? It still wouldn't 'motor' unless the regulator contacts were closed..... Unless you replaced an alternator with a dynamo - and fed raw power into it !!!!!

the issue i am having is how do i wire it all up , i took it all off not realising it was negative earth and have wired it up as if it was standard and it wont fire up now

Refer to the manufacturers instructions.......if you wire it incorrectly you will ruin it. This is exactly why I stick to good old reliable points ignition. It works.

good new its fired up but the battery isn't charging still ??

Take a few pictures so we know what we are discussing!

Still waiting anxiously for news of the broken bracket - and exactly what happened.....

this is the white wire which is a 12 volt and the pos out of the distributor on the neg of the coil


this is the neg out of the distributor on the pos of the coil


this is the green and yellow and green striped wire on the dyno , the green has the wide spade on it


so the car is running well but the battery is not charging ?? i think it must be simple but i dont know , any help ???

Very non standard/horrible wiring. If the car is negative earth, then the wires on the coil are wrong way round. And you must fit washer and nut on the coil terminals - don't rely on wrapped round wires!! On the dynamo-------someone has seriously bodged the wiring - I wonder why? Did the car have an alternator - and now has a dynamo? Does the red IGN light come on when you switch on the ignition? You said before that the dynamo was running like a motor - is that still the case if you pop the belt off??

they are only wrapped round and bodged till i know how it should be ,i have not altered any wires , the red light comes on and stays on but before it would go off when i reved it and was warm and that meant the battery was charging now its on all he time , it had a dyno before i just dont know how to get it to charge ??? do i need so swap the wires on the coil ?

and the dyno isnt running like a motor any more

It may have damaged something in the regulator when it was running as a motor. Or the brushes in the dynamo. Start by checking the dynamo. Remove both these wires. Join a new length of wire to both terminals on the dynamo. Start the engine and run at decent revs. Now touch the end of that wire to the +ve terminal on the battery and check if the lights get brighter when you do this. If so - it's charging and therefore you need to turn your attention to the cables and/or the regulator. If not capable of charging - check the brushes..

i cant belive it but its charging now, well the light goes off now at revs ??? its a haunted morris i think

And do the headlights become noticeably brighter ? I suspect it has been wrong polarity........