Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted January 17, 2018 Report Share Posted January 17, 2018 I just had a look at the dizzy off my spare engine, I never noticed but it looks like an electronic one.. Is there any way to tell if it's a california one or not? I might stick it on, but it does have about 300k miles on it.. Sry not sure how to put up a picture with my phone https://i.imgur.com/Ldp7vTe.jpg Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 17, 2018 Report Share Posted January 17, 2018 It is an EI distributor. There were two styles, 'matchbox' and the one you have called a 'remote ignitor'. If all you have is the distributor, the box that holds the electronics is missing and located under the dash in the vehicle the distributor it came out of. You can, for up to $15, get a HEI module form an old 80s Camaro or w/e and wire it in with surprisingly good results. If you post the part number on the side I can identify what exactly it is out of. It will be 78 or older if from a California emissions car. The number starts 22100-????? 1 Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted January 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2018 I will have a look when i get off work Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted January 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 It says 22100 h7360 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 It says 22100 h7360 It will be 78 or older if from a California emissions car. The number starts 22100-????? '74 and up California emissions and also the '78 Federal emissions for A14 B-210. Nice score! Find an HEI unit and an EI coil and put it to work. You can wire in place like above if you keep your points coil AND the ballast, but then all you gain is a breakerless ignition. If you remove your coil and ballast and put an EI coil form a '78 or later Datsun (say a '79 200sx) you will be able to enjoy the hotter spark output.. Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted January 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Excellent I'll get on that btw what does the cap on one of these look like? Is it tee same as a point distributor? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 All L20B distributor caps are the same. They are larger diameter than the L16/18s. Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted January 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 Okey doke, so this is what im looking at, and I already have the cap from my point dizzy, think this would get it going? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 You can wire in place like above if you keep your points coil AND the ballast, but then all you gain is a breakerless ignition. If you remove your coil and ballast and put an EI coil form a '78 or later Datsun (say a '79 200sx) you will be able to enjoy the hotter spark output.. Depends... the picture says to use with external ballast. This may just be a stock photo. What you want is the EI coil that runs directly on 12 volts without a ballast resistor. Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted January 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 I have an aftermarket coil on there it has no ballast not sure if it's 12 volt though lemme check Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 What you need is a 0.8 to 1.0 ohm coil from an EI system. All '78 and up Datsuns will have one or in the case of the Z series... two. Any one of these will work. 1 Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted February 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2018 All right went ahead and bought this And an HEI module. I will try to hook them up to the electronic distributor I have and see if it works but it has a lot of miles on it. If it doesn't cosmonaut is gonna send me one sometime I will just wait for that one. How do you time one of these? the rotor is just a square it's not pointing in any particular direction seems like. does it time itself? Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted February 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2018 Oh you stick the rotor on top of the square ha. Disregard me. The vacuum advance doesn't seem to be working on the one I have either but should work for a start without it eh. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 11, 2018 Report Share Posted February 11, 2018 Put a hose on the vacuum advance and suck on it. The plate under the rotor should move about 1/2" and hold (this is important) until released. 1 Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted February 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 Yeah it wouldn't work at all. I am putting the one from my old dizzy on it which moves it but doesn't really hold it better than nothing for now. I took the dizzy apart to clean out all the dead bugs and what not and put new grease on it but unfortunately when I put it back together the plates are seized up and a tiny little ball bearing fell out of it and I'm not sure how it goes back in. Anyone know where I could find a good diagram of one of these distributors? the one in my manual is for a point type not sure how similar they are. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 I think there are 3 BBs in them. Some however are held in by plastic clips that can break. Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted February 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2018 How do you bypass the ballast when fitting the new coil, can you just disconnect it? There is a black wire going to the ballast, a black/blue and a black/white going from the ballast to the coil and a solid blue going straight to the coil. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 22, 2018 Report Share Posted February 22, 2018 Well the ignition has two power wires coming from it. ON and START. ON is on in the ON and the START positions. START is only on when the key turned to START. So turn ignition to ON and it goes to the ballast to be dropped down in volts and current and then on to the coil. This is what the engine runs on normally. Turn to START and power goes directly to the coil around the ballast for more output spark. Engine starts, key returns to the ON position and the full 12 volts is removed from the coil and the voltage has to pass through the ballast to reduce points arcing and wear. Pull the two wires from the ballast and check that one wire has power all the time and the other one has power only in start. Join these two wires together and connect to the + side of the coil and also to the EI module. Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 Having some trouble finding an original distributor that would work I was wondering if a cheaper one off the internet would work most of them that I saw said they had california emissions on them this one doesn't say one way or the other. Or if anyone knows where I could find an original one that would be a good help. https://www.ebay.com/i/161762992403?chn=ps&dispItem=1 Quote Link to comment
LenRobertson Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 This page may help in rebuilding your dizzy: http://web.archive.org/web/20050308082501/home.att.net/~jason510/Dizzy_FAQ.htm Go down to "Disassembly" and there is a link over to another rebuild page. "The screw that attaches the vacuum canister actuating rod only threads into the moveable advance plate, the special screw has a unthreaded end just sticks into the hole of the actuating rod." is important if you swap your vacuum advance. It was just dumb luck I noticed this special screw when I change my advance canister. Len Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted April 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2018 Is there a way to convert an EI distributor with california emissions to be normal again? I can pick one of those up pretty easily. Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted April 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 I think I'll go ahead and pick one up it may not give it a stronger spark but hopefully it'll get it going again. cars been sitting for too long. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 I guess I didn't hit post last night. Post the part number stamped on the distributor side. I will start 22100- followed by H and 4 more numbers. Also says D4K 09 (or something similar. Give me these numbers and I can tell you what it's from and if Cal or Fed emissions and even if they are the same. 1 Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted April 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 All right i ordered it today ill have a look once it comes in. 1 Quote Link to comment
Dirtyowlnumber4 Posted April 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2018 It doesn't have a datsun part number on it. It is a cheaper chinese one. it definitely has cali emissions though, it says so on the box. looks exactly the same as my dusty old broken one. I did wire it in and the car is finally fixed though so that's pretty neat. Thanks for the help so far I would never have figured it out. At least now its ready for a matchbox dizzy when I can find one. Quote Link to comment
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