Hey I am trying to firgure out y my car has no power I have post alot question but nothing is pointing me to the right direction. Anyhow first the car feel like it got power especially going up on a hill. It get good fuel and the timing seems to right {never touch factory setting} Anyhow I already rule out the fuel & plugs & wires. Now I want to change the distributor to an 82 model how do I go about doing that? I noticed in the shop manual is b,c, b=battery, c=coil ,but the 80 has a square box where the 80 style igniter is. Can I unplug the 80 igniter at the square box and make a connection on the {2} igniter wire's and take to the 82 distributor for leading and trailing igniters? Or that is stupied what I am trying to do? Thanks alot,khris

 

To put the 82 dizzy on there, see goldish colored box on drivers side strut wall? Remove it and run over it a few times with the car, ah now I feel better.

Take out the old dizzy, insert the new 81-85 one, following the proper procredure as spelled out in FSM or Haynes.

Wire up the (+)'s on the igniters and coils to 12v ign

wire up the leading igniter (-) to the leading coil negative
wire up the trailing igniter (-) to the trailing coil negative

wire up tach (-) to the trailing coil (-) .. all done enjoy electronic ignition with minimal components, itsa about an hour job start to finish

 

about an hour huh? hour and a half for swappin rear end huh? beer must be warping his concept of time. dont listen to him

 

**** boy, proper tools , proper knowledge

I started the rear end swap at 3 pm , I was done at 4 35, and I was dicking off a lot. Its not a hard swap.

Also ask jermey how long it took to swap the dizzy in his 79?

Got to remember I put radios in , in about 10-15 minutes for about any car...I was born with a screwdriver and wire crimpers LOL

 

proper tools at the improper garage :'(
ive got a screwdriver and soldering iron grafted into my hands now that i build security systems. crimpers are the devil! the stuff we make has to last at least 20 years in harsh environments so we crimp nothing. solder and heat shrink only, no electrical tape. also has to be bubba proof enough so that the redneck who installs it doesnt break it.

 

True, when I install anything under the hood it gets soldered usually. You will never see a scotch lok in anyhting I do nor a T tap

Snap ON PWC-29's best damn crimpers made... at $60 damn well better be

 

Guy's I just look at the box and I noticed that there is another set of wires {black/red strip, green/orange strip} what does those 2 wire do? I know the gold box has the red and green which goes into the old dizzy, I can firgure out that part. But I am still kind a confused why I can just unplug the 80 style igniter make a connetion for that plug and take it straight into the leading & trailing igniter that is on the 82 dizzy? Also where would I get the 12 volt ign from the engine bay Fuse links? thanks khris

 

Why would you want to get rid of the '80 dizzy first? It works well enough. Find out what your problems are first before you start making new ones in an attempt to fix the old ones.

 

A question for you. Is your exhaust stock?

I agree. Keep the '80 dizzy. If you've got a header or don't care about emissions, it's ok to convert the semi firing Trailing to full time like '81-'85 have. If I were you, I'd take it one step further and go direct fire. You've already got two J105 ignitors.

 

You and your direct fire nonsense.

Actually the '80's external ignitor is VERY handy, I think. It's heat sunk and out there in the breeze, instead olf attaching the ignitors directly to the hot distributor which is typically buried behind brackets.

One trick, though, is that '79-80 get their tach signal from the LEADING coil. That can be fixed of course, but it does require that the trailing be converted to full-time operation.

FWIW you *can* have full-time trailing with the stock exhaust. Emissions just aren't as clean. I passed emissions with full time trailing, BARELY. But passin' is passin'!

 

Wow, that's good to know. I didn't think it was possible without the 'fire' in the thermal reactor. But then again, a high flow cat and FB exhaust manifold or header would have even cleaner emissions with direct fire anyway (or without as long as Trailing fires full time). The only problem is if Rx7aholic's car requires stock parts only in the area he lives. Then it's time to start getting creative with heat shields.

 

Well I was trying to firgure out Y the hell the car has no power, But I think I am so used driving my moded 3rd gen it's hard to firgure out how fast the 1st gen is now. Also there was nothing wrong with the 80 dizzy. I had a 79 with a RB header,and complete exhaust system,accel 8.5 mm wires yelow coils and to me it seem's to be way faster than my current 80 now and that was 10 yrs ago. Btw this car has headers high flow cat ansa cat back and silencer after the main cat. I check the exhaust{main cat} it's new inside I have check the silencer yet. BTw can the stock coil cause the car not to have any power? Also when I go up a hill it has no power? It's getting alot gas. Or do u guys think I am nutz for power and speed? Khris

 

you have a cat on an '80??

 

Yes {High flow}