Hey guys,

I am in the process of upgrading my new 79 to a few of the better enhancments of the 81+ models,and have a few questions.Does anyone have an in depth write-up of how to upgrade to a 81+ distributor?I would like to do it without cutting up the wiring if it is possible.Also is there a write-up of how to change from the externally regulated alternator to a more common IC regulated alternator?I have my 83 LE as a parts loaner so I should ahve everything to do these upgrades,but again I don't want to hack up the wiring in the completely(until now)stock early 79 GS I have.Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

http://www.mazspeed.com/ignitionswap.htm

 

Thanks for the link.I was wondering when I was reading it though,what do I do with the existing ground leads on the coils now?remove them?I would assume I remove the existing grounds from the coil which I am pretty sure went to the points in the distributor,and wire the negative(grounds) from the ignitors to the coils.Therefore switching the negative side of the coils via the ignitors as they should be.Do you have any ideas as far as the alternator goes?I am thinking this isn't as important to me as the ignition,but if it can be done simply I want to do it.Thanks again.

Chris

 

 

Thanks wacky,that is a great illustration,and answers my question about the existing wires on the coils.The wire from the positive of each coil is already there right,and doesn't need to be added?

On a related note my friend who is helping me with this project is concerned the wires on the ballast resistors are a bit undersized,and wants to wire in the wiring from the coils of my 83 because they are much larger.I think this a bit overkill,and not necesary,but what do you think?It looks to me I only need to splice 4 wires,and run 4 wires,which seems pretty easy to me.Thanks again.


Chris

 

Hey Chris-
Just in case I missed something in all this, I think you need to use the 83 COILS too. The 79's aren't used with electronic ign.
cheers
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Hey guys,

I have a question on this topic.Last night while working on a forum members 80 RX-7 I came upon a question about the coils.We were trying to determine if the coils were still good so I checked the resistance of the coil against what my 79 FSM said,and then thought about you guys telling me the electronic coils are different.I agree they are,but when I went and checked what the proper resistance of the 80,and 81-85 coils should be online it showed the resistance should be the same.What gives?Is this a misprint on the FSM's.

On a side note we found the problem with the 80 we were working on.It was the distributor cap that was mounted askew due to the metal cover under the rotor being improperly mounted,and therefore the center post that rides on the rotor was broken.I was surprised the car even ran.We put a used cap,and rotor on from my 83,and the car was good to go.

Chris

 

Hey guys,does anyone have a simple easy way of upgrading to a internally regulated alternator?I don't want to cut up the wiring,and I would like to maintain the warning lights on the dash.

Chris

 

On the 4prong connector...junk it. Instead, find any ignition wire to trigger an 81+ alternator. This wire can be anything that has juice when the key is in the ignition. Thats a quick fix except, your SA's voltmeter wont work.

 

Thanks wacky,

By the four wire connection you mean at the alternator right?Would I unplug the voltage regulator,and tape back the connector?Is there any way I can wire this so that I can have the volt meter work still?I like the voltmeter/tachI assume there is a warning light in the dash if the alt dies(there is on my FB atleast).Is there a way to make this function still work.I have a used voltage regulator that I could scavange a connector from to modify the wiring to make this work with maybe a relay.Does this sound like a good idea?Thanks again.

Chris

 

Search the archives. There's one in there with complete instructions on "How-To".

 

Hey guys,

I wired my electronic ignition today the way wackyracer showed in his diagram,but I have a problem.

I changed the oil,filled the coolant,and decided I would throw a battery in it,and try to fire it up finaly.When I tried turning it over I noticed some smake coming out from the area of the voltage regulator.I quickly stopped cranking it,and disconnected the battery before things got bad.

The wiring for the alternator,and voltage regulator is factory wired,and the only thing I changed was the distributor wiring.What do you guys think is wrong.I don't see anything burned,but I have not torn any of the tape off the wiring harness.

I quickly removed all of my wiring,and figured I would start from scratch like my friend wanted to do.We wired in a relay to power the coils that is triggered from the wire that was attached to the bottom of one of the ballast resistors.We ran out of ring terminals to finish wiring the ignitors to the coils,but we did try the key to hear if the relay was triggering,but we did not get any clicking.Does the power to the old ballast resistors some how go through the voltage regulator wiring that may or may not be in trouble from the smoke?

We still need to wire up the alternator(2nd gen),and somehow get the warning light hooked up through it.But I don't think the alternator wiring is affecting the ignition wiring.

Could the fact that I left the old wires that were on the old coils in place like the diagram says affect this?I am lost here,and I hope I didn't fry anything.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

I think that using the old wires could have had something to do with the problem. You are right to use a relay instead of relying on those old wires. I used to use the old wires on my Rx4 and I always had burning plastic smells comming from the fuse box area and small ammounts of smoke too. Then the electrical sysytem would fail completely from time to time requiring me to replace fuses, clean contacts etc. I finally rewired the ign so that I was using the old wiring to trigger the relay. I have not had any of those problems since then.

 

I just wanted to jump in here again and say that wacky's picture of the back of his alternator worked great on my Rx2! I finally have a working charging system in my race car. Yay!

 

Chris-
If I read you right, you have BOTH a later-model alt AND your old 79 External V reg installed?? All the later alts have built-in V regs! - shouldn't be using the 79 v reg at all...
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Thanks Stu for bringing up this oldish thread.I don't have my old external voltage regulator in use anymore.Since I installed the newer(2nd gen)alternator I have removed th external regulator.

I gotta tell you this car is so much fun.I have been having a blast with it this summer.I can't believe I never appreciated the beauty of the SA before.This is by far the best car I have ever bought,and that is saying a lot considering I had an RX-8 for a year.

 

Did you notice any difference with the electronic dizzy? I have everything ready to do the switch but havent found time yet.

 

I never ran the car with the stock ignition,but judging by the coffee cans full of points the original owner gave me I would say making the switch was a smart move.

 

Yea it's a smart move. I hated to do it to mine because it's so original, but I finally had to do it...just from a reliablity standpoint. I doubt that it gives you any extra performance...not that you'd notice anyway, but now there are no ignition worries.

Rich

 

how long did the switch take you?

 

i did the swap in about 30 min. i had an 84 parts car to get the wires and connectors from though.

 

I had to do mine from scratch and it took a few hours. I did it so that I could easily revert back to the points if I decide to make it original again.

Rich