It’s always the little things…
So I decided to go for a ride today.
It's been a busy summer, and I've been ignoring my 1800 lately: After getting it safely set up in a garage of its own, I've done little more than look at it in the past three months. Never before has the 1800 had such a long period of dormancy, and I was afraid if I didn't give her a little exercise, she might get sluggish on me.
Apparently, I was right. After a rough start, things started to smooth out, and eventually she was purring as usual while I tooled about town. To give the ride even more purpose, I stopped by a plumbing supply place in town and finally bought the hot water shutoff valve I've been promising myself I'd install to keep the heater from burning me out of the cab this summer. I picked up a few other toys for the garage, too, and eventually made my way home.
It was upon my return that the trouble struck: Apparently, one of the spring latches that holds the distributor cap in place decided to give up the ghost just as I turned into the garage. Suddenly, the car was dead.
When I opened the hood, I somehow missed the vision of the cockeyed distributor — but my eyes rested upon the ignition coil, complete with its missing high-tension line. As the distributor had been batted away by the rotor, it had managed to rip the ignition wire straight out of the coil.
So tomorrow's task: New coil (the ceramic lip surrounding the plug was also broken in the fray), new cap and new rotor. And now I also finally have an excuse to install the Crane Fireball electronic ignition module I purchased several months ago.
In the mean time, the stop valve is also in place. Now if I could just get the car started again to test it…
July 26th, 2007 at 8:15 am
I’m in the process of getting the electronic ignition sorted on my 1800S too! Having a few issues with the modification from original coil to new flamethrower version. One suggestion is that i cut the top off the old coil and slide the new one down inside to retain the original look. Only other thing to do is cut the armoured ignition cable to get a live feed for the new coil. Any thoughts/experience with this yet???
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July 26th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Hey there, Mark. I lucked out when I purchased my ‘71 a few years ago — I was blissfully unaware that an armoured cable had existed in earlier models. Fortunately, I never had to deal with it, so the switch was fairly straightforward for me.
As for keeping the look, the “fake top” sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, that’s the part that was ruined on mine, so preserving the look wasn’t an option either. I figure with enough grease and grime on it, it will eventually blend right in.
Anybody else got any tips or suggestions for Mark?
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July 27th, 2007 at 4:12 am
Got the Motor running last night on the new Electronic Distributor and flamethrower Coil, but only rigged up temporarily, with the new coil cable tied to the old one! Cut the armoured cable easily enough and tapped into the feed wire. The car goes like a rocket now by comparison! It looks as thought he new coil should sleeve down inside the old casing easily. Fully reccommend this modification.
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November 15th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I’ve got a `69 1800S with tired spark. I’m sick of playing with points and was thinking of going to elecronic ignition. I’ve heard or Pertronix which, I think, fits into the old distributor. Or, I could replace the distributor. I figure I could change the coil at the same time. Can anyone give me suggestions on products and install methods (trying to figure out what to do about the armored coil wire).
Thanks,’
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November 16th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I went for the Lumenition Distributor and flamethrower coil – they had a dizzy that was tailor made for the B18 engine. Cut around the top of the old coil and pull out the internals (takes a fair bit of digging and poking, but can be done), then witha bit of insulation tape as packing, slide the new coill down inside. You’ll have to cut through the armoured cable with a small hacksaw and tap into the wire within for the main feed. It should be possible to wire your speedo up to the new distributor and all you’ll need to do is get your timing light out to fine tune it once you’ve got her running.
Worked for me anyway!
Mark
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November 16th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Thanks for the help, Mark. I’ve been searching for an actual distributor made for the B20 but have only found the optical electronic ignition uprgade kits made by Luminition. Do you have a source for the entire distributor?
I’m also reading more about the Crane XR 700 ignition module which looks pretty good too.
I’m still not clear on how to handle the coil and armored cable issue. Is it correct to assume that the only way to use a standard coil is to cut the armor and then tie the wire into the positive side of the new coil?
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January 14th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
any rec on new front and rear coil springs, not sure if I want to lower my 64 1800. Thanks Bob
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January 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Bob-
I lowered my ‘64 1800S with IPD lowering springs. Definitely worth it. While your at it, I recommend replacing all the bushings with the polyurethane ones and adding the front and rear sway bars. Improves the handling when all done together and you’re in there anyway.
-Mike
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January 24th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Mike thanks, did get the lowering springs and have replaced all of the bushings. Was going to hold off on sway bars due to cost for now…
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January 24th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I have 5 non-functioning gauges in my dash, Have found full replacement set for 300.00,has anyone pulled the entire set and just put in all modern ones…
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