FAST electronic ignition

Gotta love that wiring . . .
Post Reply
Shaun1305
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 7:46 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider

FAST electronic ignition

Post by Shaun1305 »

Hey out there, got this car recently and pretty much went through it mechanically. Removed all smog, put rebuild kit in the carb, set the float, took out the points and put in the fast electronic ignition. Wires, plugs, rotor, cap, blue bosch coil. Ran additional wire from ignition to hot side of coil. Ran additional engine ground to body ground. I'm getting 14.7 volts to the hot side of coil, maybe incorrectly got charging circuit from the ignition switch? I feel like the car isn't getting enough spark. It's running super rich, I can smell it out the tailpipe. It's super sluggish, any thoughts?
baltobernie
Patron 2020
Patron 2020
Posts: 3466
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:00 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider [sold]
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by baltobernie »

How did it run before you modified it?
Which FAST product(s) are you using?
What is your initial timing, max. advance and at what RPM?
Shaun1305
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 7:46 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by Shaun1305 »

It ran, but very poorly. I'm getting a timing gun Tuesday to find that out. Did it by ear earlier but didn't help. Oil smells a little like gas, dunno what's going on there...weird thing is, I was holding the ignition module while it was running and it made a difference as to which way it was oriented, no joke. It's fast xr3000 What is going on....
Last edited by Shaun1305 on Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Shaun1305
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 7:46 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by Shaun1305 »

Another update, I found another loose ground...fixed that. The coil is arcing from the positive terminal to the wire output. Seems to run poor when that happens every so often. Is 14.7 volts on the incoming ok?
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Shaun1305 wrote:Oil smells a little like gas, dunno what's going on there...
If you have been running rich for any significant length of time, then you likely have gotten unburnt gas down past the piston rings into the oil. After you fix the current problem, it would be a good idea to change the oil.

14.7 volts should be OK, as that is what the charging system puts out when your battery is being charged. Perhaps a little on the high side, but not excessively so.

As for arcing on the coil, that is often due to dirt or moisture on the top of the coil. But, another reason is that something is wrong with your plug wires or spark plugs. When the coil develops the tens of kilovolts every few milliseconds, that voltage would love to see a nice plug gap that it can jump across to ground. Lacking that nice plug gap, the coil discharges its energy however it can, which in your case seems to be arcing at the top of the coil. So, a long-winded way of saying to make sure your plug wires and plugs are all connected properly, and the plug gap is correct. Some people aim for really large plug gaps on Fiats, which I don't think works very well.

-Bryan
Shaun1305
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 7:46 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by Shaun1305 »

Thanks for getting back Bryan,

I gapped all the plugs to .025, the wires are new, from autozone I know.....and I didn't use do electric grease. So I'll get some of that and also ohm the wires....any number I should look for?
tima01864
Patron 2021
Patron 2021
Posts: 702
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:01 pm
Your car is a: 1983 FIAT Pininafarina Spider 2000
Location: Wilmington, MA

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by tima01864 »

I think dieelectric grease works as an insulator. I only use it over the connections not between. In my experience.
https://www.farmandfleet.com/blog/what- ... onnections.
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Shaun1305 wrote:Thanks for getting back Bryan,

I gapped all the plugs to .025, the wires are new, from autozone I know.....and I didn't use do electric grease. So I'll get some of that and also ohm the wires....any number I should look for?
That all sounds OK, and my guess for resistor spark plugs wires is in the 5 Kohms to 10 Kohms range. If all 4 wires are fairly consistent, that's a good sign as well. The spark "event" is fairly low current which is why the resistance doesn't degrade the spark that much (but is good for radios).

A common occurrence is that the metal connectors in the plug wires are not pushed completely onto the spark plugs or into the receptacles in the distributor cap.

Come to think of it, did you get your cap and rotor from AutoZone? There are subtle differences in caps and rotors over the model years, so you might need to check that the rotor (when installed on the distributor) is indeed in the right position relative to the 4 metal contacts inside the distributor cap. Hard to do with the cap installed, I know, but you can take some measurements with the cap removed and then on the inside of the cap, then do some math, and figure out if your rotor is in the right place.

-Bryan
Shaun1305
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 7:46 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by Shaun1305 »

Thanks for all the advice. Another update, I tried to time it today, and got whacked by the distributor big-time. The plugs and distro cap was from autozone. Ordered new cap and wires from auto-ricambi
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Shaun1305 wrote:Ordered new cap and wires from auto-ricambi
Wise decision, my friend. Perhaps this will solve the issue. As the saying goes (I just made this up), "Spark's gotta go somewhere. Whether it's the spark plugs, or the coil, or you, the spark doesn't care. All will work from a spark's perspective."

-Bryan
jon8christine
Patron 2018
Patron 2018
Posts: 130
Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:05 pm
Your car is a: 1976 Fiat 124 Spider
Location: Wyoming

Re: FAST electronic ignition

Post by jon8christine »

I've been debating which way to go with electronic ignition conversion. Did you get the Fast XR-3000 working?
Post Reply