I got rid of the J109 igniters and replaced them with the GM HEI igniters. The swap was pretty easy, and it runs great. I just don't have a lot of confidence in these spade connectors that I filed down. The idea was to grind them down enough that they would fit into the connections where the J109 used to go. They don't feel very solid in there, and I'd rather just cut the red and green wires in the dizzy and solder my new leads right to them. That way I know that I have a good connection that isn't going to vibrate out, and leave me frustrated. Is it a big mistake to cut these wires? I have no intentions of switching back to the J109s, so I don't care about interchangeability of igniters.

Thoughts please!
Jamie

 

My personal opinion would be that there is no reason why you COULDNT. I just personally think most wouldnt due to the fact that if for whatever reason you ever wanted to go back to stock, you wouldnt be able to.

If you were going to do it, I would suggest soldering/heat shrink tubing, and some common connectors there. Not just soldering solid wires onto it. Maybe some nice silicone insulated bullet connectors (not those cheesy plastic insulated ones)? That way, you can remove the dizzy if you have to without having 4 feet of wire attached to it. If it were me doing the bullet connectors, I would also put one male and one female on the dizzy (for each pickup). That way, when you go to plug them in again, you wont accidentally swap the leads because they will only connect to the right one. Hopefully that makes sense.

~T.J.

 

Good thinking T.J. I never stopped to think that I might want to actually remove the distributor someday. That would be a pain in the butt if I had it all permanently wired in. Maybe if I cut those red and green wires I could put some of those bulb shaped butt connectors on each end? That way it would be a more secure connection, but I could also disconnect it at a later date if I needed to.

Thoughts guys?
Jamie

 

Just gut a stock ignitor and call it day. At least, it will still look original and you can go back to stock anytime.

 

Thats what I said, theyre called bullet connectors

~T.J.

 

Thats what I did for mine. I got some free dead ignitors and gutted one for my setup.

~T.J.

 

So if I gut the igniter do I just pop the back off of it and rip out all the insides? I'm assuming that I want to leave something in tact so that I can re-use the two prongs on the top of each igniter, right? I've never seen the insides of a J109, is there anything special I have to do in order to use the igniter as an electrical connector between my ignition system and the dizzy?

Thanks for the help so far guys,
Jamie

 

here ya go. the 2nd pix is to show how easy it is to hook-up a direct fire Jeff will tell you not to do it but hey, if you have the resources, then why not???

 

Eep!

 

I bought a dizzy/direct fire setup off a member a looong time ago. They spliced the red and green wires and ran them to 2 j109s for the leading. I'll get some pictures of the ghetto fabulous wiring tomorrow for you.

 

So what's going on in there Wacky? It's sorta hard to tell. Did you pull everything out and then solder the green and yellow wires together?

 

How do you get the back off of these stupid J109s? I can't get it to pop off of there...

Jamie

 

sorry, been out. pry out the back cover using a thin screw driver or vice versa. then the clean off the gooie stuff with alcohol, cut the electronic board then solder 2 pieces of wire to the terminals as shown in the pix.

 

Make sure it's a DEAD ignitor before you go picking at it with a screwdriver (razorblade from a box cutter maybe).

 

Yeah, don't worry Jeff they're dead. They are the reason that I am doing all this stuff in the first place. Couldn't get my car to start for anything, and realized my leading ignitor took a crap. Then I accidentally fried the other when during testing. Ooops!

We need to get some "Jeff20B: Save The J109s!" shirts made.

 

Only if you'll wear one in public. lol

 

I had NO idea they came apart... I always figured they were "potted;" filled with epoxy when made.

Do J-105's come apart as well?

 

Wacky,

I'm assuming that your red and green wire colors match the red and green wires inside the dizzy? In other words, after I'm done gutting the igniter the green wire on top of the igniter is the same as the green wire inside of the distributor? If you can confirm this for me, then I believe that my ignition setup is finally done!

Jamie

 

Here are the pictures:

 

so wacky is the reason why there are no more ignitors in the world!!!! How many of those did you actually pay for is the ?