running an engine on the garage floor

[mr]

i'm currently building a car (hot rod pick up truck) with my son based on a 68 triumph vitesse. the triumph engine was shot so we got a 1.6 mk2 transit pinto as a replacement one while the rumph one is being rebuilt in my workshop at work.
never touched a pinto before and need to fire it up to make sure its good before selling the rumph 13/60 on but have a few questions....
ive got the engine complete and it has starter,carb etc in place.
what i don't know though is what ignition wiring needs to go where???
can anyone give me an idiots guide to getting it fired up at all please ?

[Xenocide]

Just low tension side to the coil, ground the block. Red jumper to the starter, and a wire coming off the remote wire for the starter with a stripped end to touch to the terminal. That should be it unless there's a fuel stop solenoid somewhere.


...I think?

[composimmonite]

I seem to remember that the Ford Pinto's had a ballast resistor wire in the harness feed to the coil. There is also a feed from the starter so coil gets, say, 9v through the resistor wire when running but 12v when starter operated to help generate a bigger spark. I suppose no problem putting 12v though the coil for a few seconds test running but ensure either a proper 12v coil or a ballast resister is used when installed in the car. Maybe use the original Vitesse coil ?

[vitesseefi]

Testing a Triumph 2.5 on the floor. Chunky leads to starter power and a good solid earth point. I had some proper cables, but jump leads will do. 12v feed to the coil + terminal (a ballasted coil will be ok with 12v for the short time you can run with no cooling system). Bit of hose from the fuel pump suction into a fuel can.

Do make sure the engine is well propped up. Mine was actually bolted to a cross member which was bolted to a big chunk of wood.

Note also that these short runs are not a reliable indicator of engine health. I look pretty happy with that oil pressure don't I? It was more like 5 psi with the engine properly hot...... and there were nasty noises. When I did a PM on the engine later it turned out that the main bearing caps were from various engines and had been filed and packed with strips of coke can (I kid you not!) so the engine would turn. You can probably imagine what the main bearing shells looked like!

Nick

[dodgerover]

Is it a points dizzy or electronics?

[mr]

Thanks all, its got points. i was told yesterday that apart from the obvious big p+ and neg to the starter i only need a 12+ to the + on the coil, an ht from the coil to the dizzy ,then from the neg on the coil to the wire that exits the side of the dizzy and just 12v+ to switch the solenoid for the starter.
pretty sure i tried that combo before though..................................

[Xenocide]

My drawing skillz are awesome

[mr]

mad skills with the pic lol,its readable so works for me :-)
thanks mate,where does the wire that comes out the dizzy go?
stop solenoid on the carb? will need to look into that, never heard of that before

[colnerov]

Hi, the wire from the dist goes on the -ve term on the coil. The pic is misleading in that respect, as he has the -ve term on the coil to earth.

Colin

[mr]

thanks mate