Battery, coil, distributor help..

[squirrely_1]

I am trying to get the wiring correct from my distributor to my coil,does the wire from the distibutor got to the negative or positive side of the coil?..The P/O must have neede the coil on something else , he pulled the coil and all the wires, and the battery. Does the batteries negative terminal wire on my 58 just go to a frame ground? because i don't have a clue, it's not anywhere to be found. Am i correct to say the Positive just goes to the starter like any other truck? Here are a couple pics of what i have so far, i am just trying to get it all straight..Thanks for any help !

[JumboAMONGus]

ground from coil goes to the dist , positive goes to under the dash key where it says ignt. on the switch or a hot that turns off when you turn the key to off position . positive goes to the starter . on ground wire i seen both frame or engine but most on engine in the front

[squirrely_1]

Thank you very much.. I have it that way now, i appreciate the knowledge ! I am getting ready to turn the key on for the first time! Hopefully no smoking wires .. i have a 58 apache factory PDF disc but the wiring diagrams are poor to read.. I am trying to figure out plug wire position now. I have the 235 six cyl...Have any advice ? thanks again!

[JumboAMONGus]

i always just google 235 chevy firing order ,, or google for any engine unless i look threw a chiltons.. 1 is in front of the engine once you find where that goes on the dist then it goes 153624 clock wise ..

[squirrely_1]

thank you for the quick responces.. i have googled some stuff, and never got a good pic..but you have answered all my questions to date!

squirrely

[_Ogre]

there should be a ceramic resistor on your firewall that has an ignition feed to it, hook the other side to your coil+, the resistor reduces the voltage to 6v so your points don't burn up. hook a wire from the small terminal on your starter direct to the coil+, this will give your coil 12v when starting for easier starts. hook your coil- to your points.

[Curly5759]

x2 on what ogre said, I was going to point out that the coil voltage needs to be dropped below 12, UNLESS the coil has been replaced by one with an internal resistor. I can't tell from the picture, but usually the coil is labeled with a message, something like : use with external resistor.

Also, you should have an engine to battery ground as well as a frame to battery ground.

Curly

[mr48chev]

OOPs, thought you had an earlier truck

One thing to put in the memory bank. The lead from the coil to the distributor will always be the same as the ground on the battery. If the battery has a negative - ground the minus or negative post on the coil will connect to the distributor.

Unless you have a resistor coil you will need a ballast resistor as Ogre suggested. You then will need a resistor bypass wire that runs to the + post on the coil Since you have a foot operated starter you will probably have to figure out how to rig one up. The truck will start otherwise but it will start a lot easier

Most guys would run the ground (negative) cable to the block and then run a ground strap from the engine to the frame and one from the engine tto the body it's self. The idea is to make sure that everything that needs to be grounded has a good ground circuit to work with.

[OrrieG]

pm me with a good email address and I will send you wiring diagram in pdf format that you can read. It is too big to post here, but you can load it in adobe and scale up the resolution.

[squirrely_1]

Thank you for the information! i thought my 58' was a 12 volt system? i guess not it if i need a reducer? what about my tail lights and headlights do they need to be dropped to 6 volts as well? i wouldn't think so....Thank you again! I will start a build thread soon...waiting for a few parts to come in !

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by squirrely_1

Thank you for the information! i thought my 58' was a 12 volt system? i guess not it if i need a reducer? what about my tail lights and headlights do they need to be dropped to 6 volts as well? i wouldn't think so....Thank you again! I will start a build thread soon...waiting for a few parts to come in !

Your '58 is a 12 volt system. The ballast resistor drops the 12 volts to about 8 volts (usually not as low as 6 volts). If you don't use a ballast resistor the truck will start but your points will burn up in a few hundred miles. Overall, it's not too complicated. The advice here is pretty much spot on.

Good Luck,
Bob

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by DransportGarage

Your '58 is a 12 volt system. The ballast resistor drops the 12 volts to about 8 volts (usually not as low as 6 volts). If you don't use a ballast resistor the truck will start but your points will burn up in a few hundred miles. Overall, it's not too complicated. The advice here is pretty much spot on.

Good Luck,
Bob

Exactly on the spot!! the resistor is to keep from frying the points.

The 58 should have had a resistor or resistor wire but it appears that is all gone.

[_Ogre]

squirrely your ballast resistor is shown in another post you made, located on the raise portion of your firewall.
one wire should go to your ignition switch and the other wire hooks to your coil, this is the run wire.

[squirrely_1]

thank you OrrieG and Ogre, i was just going to post a pic of the resistor, on my firewall to confirm, if you look in my pic of the coil earlier in this post.. There is a green wire comming out of my fire wall that i hooked to the positive of my coil, i got side tracked ripping the floor of the truck out this morning.. But i had intended to see if this was an ignition wire..Does that make sence? The wiring diagram is amazing compared to what i had!

[_Ogre]

hard to say from a picture, but it wouldn't take any more that 10 minutes to confirm the wire goes to the resistor

orrie, if you have a photobucket account (free) you can post pdf files there too.

[squirrely_1]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

there should be a ceramic resistor on your firewall that has an ignition feed to it, hook the other side to your coil+, the resistor reduces the voltage to 6v so your points don't burn up. hook a wire from the small terminal on your starter direct to the coil+, this will give your coil 12v when starting for easier starts. hook your coil- to your points.

i need help with this.. i thought the wiring was ran correctly.. I looked at my wiring ,and i have a positive wire runing to the ignition resistor but not one running from the resistor to the coil off from the resistor. It has a wire from the ignition going to the positive side of the coil.. I am getting 12 volts from the ignition, but not the lower voltage i was told i needed. I also am getting 12V from the negative side of the coil all the way down to the point after the condenser. It can cross the point to the arc post with a srew driver and it will spark with the key on.. But i get no spark to my plugs? I am lost...

[Curly5759]

Originally Posted by squirrely_1

i need help with this.. i thought the wiring was ran correctly.. I looked at my wiring ,and i have a positive wire runing to the ignition resistor but not one running from the resistor to the coil off from the resistor. It has a wire from the ignition going to the positive side of the coil.. I am getting 12 volts from the ignition, but not the lower voltage i was told i needed. I also am getting 12V from the negative side of the coil all the way down to the point after the condenser. It can cross the point to the arc post with a srew driver and it will spark with the key on.. But i get no spark to my plugs? I am lost...

You need to disconnect the wire that runs straight from the ignition switch, and run a wire from the resistor to the (+) side of the coil. Also, if the distributor has stopped in a position that the points are open, then both sides of the coil will read 12 volts because there is NO GROUND. Once the points close, the circuit will be complete and the resistor will be able to do its job.


Curly

[_Ogre]

hope this helps

[_Ogre]

follow this link how to wire a gm starter
it's called google search

[Daze57]

wow dem is some serious diagrams !

[squirrely_1]

Thanks for the amazing scematics ! I am gonna give this a shot tomorrow, i have a couple other wires that may need to find a new home as well..Hope i can get it running this week! need more progress!

[squirrely_1]

so i have done everything i was shown and told to do , but i am still getting 12V from every wire in an out of the ingnition system.. Even after the reducer on the fire wall, i dunno what else to do but replace the reducer at this point. Also i have 12V on the negative side of my coil all the way down to my points without the points being closed. My frame to battery ground is good, my block to firewall ground is good..Here's the one thing that has me really baffled.. I get no spark to my plugs....I know 12v is to much for my points to function for an extended period on..but i should get a spark right? Oh, and i have new plugs ,wires ,coil,point,and battery..I have a new condenser,reducer,and rotor button,and cap on the way...any ideas?