OK. I'm a little confused. Electronic dizzys have ignitors, right? and the other type is called points ignition, which correspond to earlier than 82 dizzys, right? I'm asking because I got a blaster 2 coil and in the instructions for it says "A ballast resistor is included for use with points ignition systems." Which means if I have an electronic dizzy, I don't need the ballast resistor, right?

 

Right, you do not need the ballast resistor if you have the elec. ignition. I think the purpose of the resistor was to reduce the voltage to 9 volts which is what the points coils are. The only RX-7s that had the points ignition was the 79 model. 80 models were the first to have elec. ignition although the ignitors were not located on the distributor as on later models but on the driver side fender I believe. If you have a 79 it is well worth the time and effort to convert it to elec. ignition.

 

Correct. What the ballast resistor does is lower the voltage to 9 volts, which is what a points system runs at. It isn't need with electronic because it runs at the full 12 volts, at least ideally.

 

Oh ok thanks for the clarification guys. I have an '85. That means I installed it wrong, I put the ballast resistor in there (and it still works better than it was with the stock coil!) I'm going to remove it and hopefully it'll work even better

 

You know that you have 2 coils, right? Leading and Trailing?

If you only sprung the $$ for one of them, I'd say replace the one nearer to the driver's seat, since that would be the leading coil and most likely accounts for the most important of the 2. When you get paid again, get another one just like it and replace the trailing coil for better torque and fuel economy.

You probably already know this, but just thought I'd add it. HTH,

 

Thanks longduck. Driver's seat? there is one nearer the front of the car, and one nearer the firewall. The leading is the one nearer the front of the car, right? figure I didn't need anything special for the trailing.

Anyways, eliminated the resistor off the line, but still not the desired result (hesitation and sputtering at high rpm and cruising speeds), so back to the drawing table. Maybe the fuel jets are too big after all (160 and 190 against 90 and 160 stock), and it's just running too rich.

 

Yes, they are mounted front to back, TRAILING is in front, Leading is in back - that's counterintuitive, if you ask me, but Mazda set it up this way so that the coil leads wouldn't cross and potentially cause interference.

On your high rpm issues, definitely look at the wiring and where it runs next to, and on top of each other. At higher rpm's the ignition system is working hard and fast to keep up with engine speed, so if any of your wires are frayed or touching, put a loom in place and keep them separated. If you're lucky, you may find that one of your coil leads is arcing at high rpm which is causing your hesitation problem.

If you replace the high tension wires, make sure you get 'shielded' cabling and boots - this ensures that you won't get static interference through your radio with that ricey 'audio-tachometer' effect! HTH,

 

wait a godamn second. Leading is in the back, nearer the driver's seat? I have it in front, with the correct leading coil cable from the dizzy going to it though. Does that make a difference? Let me take a pic and I'll show you.

 

Ok here we go:

 

This one shows where the cables for the coils are going to the dizzy:

 

Yes, it looks like you have your high tension leads reversed. The trailing is the coil closest to the front of the car. Try swapping them back. I would also check your timing after you are done to make sure that the engine was timed with the leads in the correct spot.


Kent

 

allright I'm going to swap coils and cables and we'll see what happens.