antweave

I have a 455 in my money sucking machine 71 442 clone convertible.. The guy I bought the car from was a sort of OE type of guy. So he put a MSD conversion kit in the ignition. Where it looks like points with the coil next to it but still has electronic ignition underneath. I am sure you guys know what I am talking about. But now the car has been sitting in my shop for about 6-7 mouth due to lack of funds etc. No I have not spark I stuck a screw driver in the #1 plug and no spark I ran my test light to the coil and no power. I even hot wired the coil with a long piece of wire from the positive side of the battery to the + side of the coil. I guess it has a bad coil. what do you all think. Is there anything else I should check or consider before I go HEI all the way.

oldcutlass

The points replacement is probably bad or missing power also.

MDchanic

I would follow MSD's troubleshooting instructions to find the problem.

This is why I've always got a set of points and a condenser in the glove compartment.

- Eric

67 Cutlass Freak

Use a test light on the negative post of the coil. Have a helper crank the engine over. If the test light flashes, the distributor is working as it should, and most likely you have a bad coil. You could also try to disconnect the wire on the negative side of the coil, and run a jumper wire to it. Have a spark tester in place, with the key on. Touch the wire to a good ground, on and off fast. You should see a spark if your coil is good. The points conversion kits are usually pretty reliable. Much better than the points/ condenser setup. Petronics makes a good unit that sells for less than $100. Usually when the conversion is done you also would remove the inline resistor going to the positive side of the coil. Points systems run on nine volts, but have a wire going to the "T" terminal on the starter solenoid that jumps the voltage, up to 12 volts, when cranking at the coil. The electronic conversion runs at 12 volts constantly, so get your meter out. No need to jumper a wire to the coil, unless your ignition switch, or wiring is bad. Check the positive side of the coil with your volt meter. If you don't have one, it's time to get one. Good luck keep us all posted - Dave

droldsmorland

Keep in mind if the engine block doesn't have a good ground source back to the battery that will fry most electronic ignition modules. If you find the modules bad make sure you install a clean tight ground source before firing up the new mod.