[Mustang_Charlie]

I have a Duraspark on my 73 vert. I had a good harness from box to distributor. For the other plug, the 73 uses a flat "trailer" plug for the connection from firewall, so I made harness.
I agree, the red wire from module goes to 12v when key on (NOT acc) and the white to the "I" of solenoid ( if you measure 6v with key on there, it is because you are backfeeding from pink wire). One of the other pins on flat plug usually feeds carb solenoid with 12v, so I used that to power module (red wire).
As an aside, I bought brand new module from Rocauto, had it for maybe a year before trying it, and it was dead. Took me a couple of hours trying to fire new rebuilt to figure it out. It was a "Standard " - still in the box.

 

[frankstang65]

Well if anyone has pictures of their setup and wiring harness feel free to display your work so I could get some ideas!!

Thanks in advance guys..I will keep everyone updated once I open up the distributor and see what is causing the fiction. I might need to end up buying a distributor as well... Aww money pit!! But I sure love my toy!!

January 23, 2023

youtube.com

 

[jharcinske]

Huh. Well, I can say that connecting the white wire to the I terminal works. I've had mine wired that way since day 1. So, I suppose either I'm totally wrong or there are 2 ways to do it.

What, I wonder, would the difference be if the white wire is connected to the "I" terminal instead of the "S" terminal?

 

[CJM68GT390]

Huh. Well, I can say that connecting the white wire to the I terminal works. I've had mine wired that way since day 1. So, I suppose either I'm totally wrong or there are 2 ways to do it.

What, I wonder, would the difference be if the white wire is connected to the "I" terminal instead of the "S" terminal?

the answer is ... depends!
The "I" terminal is connected to the ignition power after the pink/resistor wire, so it "sees" ~6v when the engine is running. IF that voltage is high enough to trigger the box into thinking you are trying to start the engine, and retards the spark, then the spark is always retarded. If you set your timing like that, it will be correct all the time, but you won't have the retard feature when you start. IF the voltage is not high enough to trigger the box, then there is no difference as the box works as you think it should.
I have no idea how you would determine this except to change the white wire connection to "S" and see if your timing is suddenly advanced.

 

[rusty1161]

Is there anyway to bench test the control box? Thanks.

 

[hotrodfords]

If going the Ford route.
View attachment 878152


If going the Mopar route.
View attachment 878147

I just did this swap last summer using Woodchuck’s diagram here. I can attest it worked with no problems.

One of the best mods I ever did. I’m done with Pertronix on any performance build.

 

[Woodchuck]

Well if anyone has pictures of their setup and wiring harness feel free to display your work so I could get some ideas!!

Thanks in advance guys..I will keep everyone updated once I open up the distributor and see what is causing the fiction. I might need to end up buying a distributor as well... Aww money pit!! But I sure love my toy!!

January 23, 2023

youtube.com

It's pretty simple, really. First, find a location to mount your DurasparkII ECU ("box"). They do NOT like heat, so my suggestion would be, if I was putting in a '65-66, in the void between the right rear apron and the right front fender, behind the splash shield, with the wires going through a grommet below the hood hinge.

You'll want the Standard Motor Products HP4735 4-pin plug, HP3935 3-pin plug, a 2-pin waterproof connector kit (male and female plugs), 5-foot or more rolls of 100% copper stranded primary wire in 16AWG in, preferably, red, white, black, green, purple and orange, two 16 gauge 3/16" ring terminals, a dozen shink/solder butt connectors, a "solid" grommet for a 1" hole and one for a 3/8" hole.

1. Cut the 2-pin plug from the Duraspark ECU and attach the MALE plug of the 2-pin waterproof connector, red to red and black to white. On the FEMALE plug, connect the spool of red wire to the red and the spool of white wire to the black.

2. Between the HP4735 and the HP3935 plugs, connect the black, orange and purple spools between them according to the diagram below. On the HP4735 plug, connect the green spool according to the diagram below. This wire doesn't go to the other plug.

3. Unroll the spools estimating how much wire you'll need to go from the ECU to the ignition switch with the red spool, to the starter solenoid with the white spool, to the ignition coil with the green spool and to the distributor with the remaining 3 spools.

4. Cut the wires with enough extra in case you make a mistake!

5. I'd run the wires through woven loom but that's just me. Run the 6 wires from the ECU out through the grommet and hole you drilled in the apron.

6. Put a ring terminal on the end of the white wire and attach it at the solenoid "S" post.

7. Put a ring terminal on the end of the green wire and attach it to the ignition coil "-" or "dist" post.

8. Run the red wire though the 3/8 grommet and the hole you drilled in the firewall to the "C" terminal of the ignition switch plug. Probably the EASIEST way to connect is to buy 2 male and 2 female .180 "bullet" connectors. Take 2 short (3") pieces of your left-over red wire and place them parallel to each other. On one end, twist the conductors of the two wires together and place the MALE bullet on that end, and each of the FEMALE bullets on the other ends. At the ignition switch, disconnect the bullet connector between the RED/GRN and the PINK wire and insert your new "adapter" between the RED/GRN and the PINK wire. Place your remaining male bullet on the end of your red wire from the ECU and plug it into your adapter.

 

[W427]

If you're doing all the work to go from CDI multi-spark to electronic IDI spark (not a bad move) why drop to almost points performance? I'd at least consider the LX210 red-grommet box and get twice the spark power (literally). Yeah, 8 amps instead of 4 at 12-volts, and a no-brainer. I'm perplexed why everyone runs to the much weaker DuraSpark-II (blue grommet). We've learned a few things in the last 50 years. If you want to get the same HEI performance (also better than DS-II) you can just drop-in the P-II, two screws and two wires. Drive. Smile. 😁

 

[kb65]

are there any advantages one way or the other between the ford modual and the chrysler modual


ken

 

[dennis111]

The Chrysler module is more compact and easier to hide. I mounted mine to the frame bracket on the side of the battery box.

 

[frankstang65]

So I decided to open up the distributor to see what was causing the shaft to get struck and I noticed that one of the wing weights was loose. It looks like its missing a clip. It was actually loose and just rattling in there. Question?? Should I just spend the cash and get a new distributor or try to repair this one?

Here are some pics. Everyone loves a post with pictures!!

 

[Mustang_Charlie]

Huh. Well, I can say that connecting the white wire to the I terminal works. I've had mine wired that way since day 1. So, I suppose either I'm totally wrong or there are 2 ways to do it.

What, I wonder, would the difference be if the white wire is connected to the "I" terminal instead of the "S" terminal?

The "S" terminal gets fed 12v to activate solenoid. The "I" terminal gets 12v from battery main feed sort of like a relay, to feed only during cranking.
Cut an old solenoid apart- nothing but a coil that sucks a big washer across the two big posts, plus the "I" post. The "S" is what feeds the coil to energize/make the connection.

 

[W427]

Distributors are repairable, but you will either want one with a better advance plate (10L or 13L), or modify yours for less advance, with more base timing. The numbers stamped on the plate (e.g., 16L on yours) is distributor degrees of advance, which doubles for crankshaft degrees (32° for a 16L). So, a 13L will provide 26° advance on-top of your 10° base timing for 36° total. Unfortunately, you usually don't get a choice when buying a distributor, so you may end-up modifying the tab with sleeves or welding the slot anyway.

Wiring for the HEI Ford DuraSpark-1 red box. Actually a bit simpler than the DS-II blue box:

 

[W427]

are there any advantages one way or the other between the ford modual and the chrysler modual

No. The MOPAR box is equivalent to non-HEI DS-II (blue grommet) as it does not provide dwell control, needing a ballast or resistor wire. The computer-controlled MOPAR box is HEI, but needs an ECM to provide function, so does not apply to typical conversions.

 

[Huskinhano]

Another option is the 90’s grey thick film box. It controls dwell while the black one doesn’t. I also modified my advance by welding up the unused 14L to 8L specs for 16* and run 14* initial. My timing is all in around 2500 rpm. With my GT40P heads I don’t need a lot of total mechanical. Starts easy and no problem on 87 octane with 9.5:1

 

[frankstang65]

Ok so I'm trying not to get to critical with this distributor. I just want something that functions well and won't take a dump on me like my old Pertronix did. This car is just your occasionally weekend cruiser with the wife. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

 

[Huskinhano]

Ok so I'm trying not to get to critical with this distributor. I just want something that functions well and won't take a dump on me like my old Pertronix did. This car is just your occasionally weekend cruiser with the wife. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Honestly a good stock points distributor works very well. Typically back in the day you’d go for a tune up getting new points and plugs about every 12k miles. When catalytic converters came on the scene, they need a lean fuel mixture and they need very reliable ignition that’s going to consistently light off lean mixtures. If you don’t and have misfires the temperature sky rockets. You’re not running a cat.

Personally I prefer a factory electronic ignition for everyday use if you are going to use electronic ignition whether it Ford, GM or Chrysler since all of these are designed to very high quality standards to be durable and reliable. Plus parts are easy to get. They’re designed to much greater standards then something like the Pertronix which I have that failed right after installing. Installed in my garage, backed the car out and shut it off. Went to start it up and it was dead.

 

[Woodchuck]

No. The MOPAR box is equivalent to non-HEI DS-II (blue grommet) as it does not provide dwell control, needing a ballast or resistor wire. The computer-controlled MOPAR box is HEI, but needs an ECM to provide function, so does not apply to typical conversions.

When I get my scope working I'd like to put a Mopar box-controlled engine on it to see.... I was under the impression that while dwell is not DYNAMICALLY controlled that it was fixed at one level up to a specified rpm and then changed to improve coil saturation at higher rpm, to a second level.

One should note that both the red Duraspark (1977 California only) and GM HEI were developed for one sole purpose, to light off a lean, EGR-contaminated fuel mixture more completely. Fuel mixtures that are richer and not diluted by recirculated exhaust gases are easier to ignite and burn faster, and don't require a wide plug gap and the correspondingly higher voltage to bridge that gap. Logic would dictate that if the red DS box did such a better job at making a spark that Ford would have simply done away with the blue box and resistance wire and put a red box into everything until the progression to TFI.... right?

To me, the whole premise that red DS is the only way to go is akin to telling everyone to abandon their carburetors and go with EFI.

 

[frankstang65]

So then this Distributor should be fine. The one Bart recommended.
Any other one I should consider?

More Information for SKP SKDIFD30

 

[TheRktmn]

... Logic would dictate that if the red DS box did such a better job at making a spark that Ford would have simply done away with the blue box and resistance wire and put a red box into everything until the progression to TFI.... right?

To me, the whole premise that red DS is the only way to go is akin to telling everyone to abandon their carburetors and go with EFI.

Ford was so into penny pinching that if the the Blue D2 box wasn't required they would not have used it.