Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,

Had an "Oh b******s" moment while working on the car... managed to yank on the coil wiring that comes from the distributor and pulled it out altogether. To which I said things like "Oh dear me" and "What a pity"...

So far as I can see it should be simple to pop the wires back in... if I know which way round the black and red should go!

It's like the electronic upgraded one pictured here (blue box with wires is what's come out) but I can't get a clear view of which goes where - can anyone advise?

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/ignit ... s-p1238132

Is your car +ve earth or converted to -ve earth? Electronic ignition is available in both, but can be very sensitive, so we need to know.

So far as I know it's negative - but I'm assuming that only because there's an alternator.

Is there a way to check?

Almost certtainly -ve with an alternator, but easy to check: which terminal on the battery is connected to the vehicle body and which goes to the starter solenoid?

Negative (right) goes to body. Assuming the battery hasn't been rotated 180 degrees!

Before I painted the engine bay the previous owner had helpfully painted a Red + over the left hand terminal, too.

If the battery has round terminal posts, they are distinguishable by size.

oliver90owner wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2020 3:57 pm If the battery has round terminal posts, they are distinguishable by size.

But are you going to tell him which is which....... (there is only about 1.5mm difference, so not noticed unless you look for it).
Depending on the type of post, it's something like 18mm Neg and 19.5mm Pos if I recall correctly, but there are about 4 or 5 standards for round posts.

I don't think I've ever seen a Battery that didn't have a '+' and a '-' moulded into the case
Though as I have got a 'rotated' battery, I do have to remove the steady bay to see the marks.

Accuspark do provide full instructions, and those are here: http://www.accuspark.co.uk/fitting_guide.html and I recommend that you read them; but in a nutshell, it appears that your black lead goes to the -ve or CB terminal on the coil and your red lead goes to a +ve supply, which can probably be the +ve or IGN terminal on the coil - a white lead if your wiring is standard. Please do double check the instructions before connecting.

But are you going to tell him which is which....... (

Nope! He has the information and can thus look it up for himself?

It looks fairly obvious, even from your pic.

Thanks all,

It's definitely Negative Earth - I checked last night! Both the battery has the moulded + and - and also has a bigger terminal on the + side.

Anyway - maybe I wasn't clear, the issue isn't with the wiring to the coil (which I've got labelled up ready for reassembly) but the wiring from the distributor itself - where the black and red wires come out of the distributor, through that blue plastic case in my link above and then on to the coil. It's the distributor end where the wires go inside it to something I need to reconnect!

Then can we have a photo of what's inside? You need someone who has one fitted to take a picture of their one too for comparison, or contact Accuspark via the link that I posted previously.

Not right now as not at home - but this looks exactly like what's come off - in this photo the wiring (on the right) is going into the black box?

You've got 2 wires, 1 BLACK and 1 RED.
The information & link that simmitc gave you yesterday explained it all.

The Black is the one that would have gone to the Points, the Red is the Power supply for the electronics unit.

Confused????

Are you saying you've yanked the Red & Black wires out of the little black box?
Because if you have, you need to buy a new one as they're completely potted in resin.

If you’re struggling just get an auto electrician out and watch what he does...and pick his brains

Alas, having located the other end of those wires - in the box - Geoberni is correct, the box is full of resin and I've got no hope of reattaching without making a mess of it.

At least now I know what I need to reorder. An expensive mistake!

Thanks for help everyone.

I'm glad we've got to the bottom of it.
Good of you to let us know and not just slink off into the shadows and leave us all wondering (unfortunately some people do that). Now if only we had a decent range of smilies, I wouldn't have to use a jpeg.........

Now if only we had a decent range of smilies, I wouldn't have to use a jpeg.........

Now but if only you had a modern tablet, such as an Ipad, you would have hundreds available, directly accessible from the keyboard.🤩🥶etc. Some in different colours, too

(Main down side is that there is no provision for an SD card on the - - - - thing , so a right pain for down loading for the 3D printer. Or reviewing the dash cam recordings. )

Yes, I could use a mobile device, but why should I when I have a perfectly good full size keyboard on a computer that is far easier and faster to use.

Technology eh...? Getting my first non dumb phone tomorrow. Terrified!