Lotus000

Hi everyone, I am having a hell of a time getting my trailing ignition working.

First off, I have an 84 -se with a 4 port 13b with a street port. Weber 48 IDA carb, direct fire ignition using GM HEI ignition modules. 3 MSD blaster 2 coils with about 10k miles on them. New spark plugs, wires, and dizzy cap/rotor.

My issue is that I cannot get the trailing ignition to stop arcing at the coil. I tried swapping one of my leading coils for the trailing one, the coil in the trailing position always arcs. I have tried numerous different spark plug wires with negative results as well. I have even tried adjusting the timing, but it does not run well if its not set near TDC.

I had the trailing ignition hooked up and working fine years ago, but the car has been sitting for a long time and I had to rewire it (relocated the ignition modules).

What could be causing this arcing? did my ignition module go bad on me?

On a related note, is there a way to get the tach to work off the leading ignition? I would love to get the trailing working like it should, but if I have to drive it more with just the leading I would like to at least have a tach.

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

If its arcing at the coil then it must have too much resistance at the cap or the coil is
being triggered when the cap is not on a trailing stud. I would double check your
wires to the cap and then to the trailing plugs.

If you pull the trailing does it all run fine then? If so its probably just a minor wiring
mishap hopefully.

You can run the tach off of the leading negative trigger use for your HEIs. I don't
run trailing at all and use the HEI setup with some TFI coils and it works great for
the tach. See the link in my sig for details on the wiring.

Lotus000

Thanks for the info, looking at your wiring diagram I think I see what I messed up.

Lotus000

I had the trailing and leading mixed up at the dizzy, it does not arc anymore. Unfortunately now it will not run. It did run before, with only the leading ignition hooked up (and apparently running off the trailing pickup). I am going to let it sit for a bit, it might be flooded.

Just so I am 100% sure, when your looking at the dizzy from the drivers side of the car the trailing is on the left and the leading is on the right, like it shows in that diagram?

Kentetsu

My first thought was poor grounding of the engine, but I think I like Tim's idea better. Good luck.




.

Lotus000

and its officially fixed. I had the trailing and leading correct before, I just had the wires plugged into the magnetic pickup wrong on the trailing. runs like a champ now and my tach works!

Kentetsu

Great news! Thanks for posting back...

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad those diagrams helped you out. Good to hear it was a minor issue.