need urgent help with electrical, + power on the regulators ground base

Well, problems and more problems.. just got done replacing the camshaft on the car, good news gave the car more compression with the mk2 cam.. i dont know what i did wrong, installed everything back, took off the pertronix ignition thinking it was bad, replaced the coil, and now the ignition regulator box on the firewall.. well took off the regulator from the firewall, tested all the connections all of them work except one, the problem is its getting + power on the base the voltage regulator...then when i go and mount the regulator to the wall, it does nothing, but i do notice the wires get hot.:ball: even with the regulator off when i went to the auto parts to get it, came back ignition was on. forgot to turn it off, and the coil was very hot, so was the wires, wires were warm not too hot, coil was okish.. anyone have an idea, only thing i did was replace the cam, played with the distributor, thats it.. ou: i know i know..if it aint broke dont fix it, but i had to install a cam...now 7 days till trip and no luck getting it running..thanks in advance

 

I am a little confused about the "voltage on the base." Is this a grounding issue? Tell me about the ignition. Does it use a points triggered ignition or a magentic replacement? Ray

 

ok, here it is.. took the engine apart, before it was running bad.. low compression aswell, then installed the mark 2 cam. adjusted the rockers, went to put the distributor in, turned the motor and no start. thought it was the pertronix electronic ignition distributor.. changed the coil, changed to a points type distributor, nothing.. changed the voltage regulator.. the problem is this.. im getting a 12 volt reading from the base of the voltage regulator, the base is where it mounts to the firewall...figure that out! im getting a positive voltage and when you mount the base to the firewall, i get no spark but wires coming from the voltage regulator get hot, and go down to the coil, coil does get hotter than the wires though, i have taken the wiring harness out from the engine compartment and will be checking one by one.. any idea as to where this is coming from, just as it sounds confusing, its weird aswell as i did not touch any electrical wires other than disconnecting the starter for shimming and alternator for the removal of the front components..

 

anybody have an engine wiring diagram?

 

took the engines wiring harness out cleaned it up, installed new wires where needed. made them look really really clean.. clean i refer to as heat shrink tubing where needed, nice and clean connectors, taped over entire wiring harness.. hooked it back up and still...no fixou: could anyone tell me if im chasing an invisible cat. if you were to take off your voltage regulator while the ignition switch is on, and if you were to get a test light and touch the test lights tip on the metal case of the voltage regulator, does the light turn on.. mine does, what in the heck could be wrong, does the neutral safety switch connect to any of these wires..

 

forgot to mention again, when the ignition switch is turned onn, the negative on the coil turns into positive..anyone got any clues..

 

I think you are getting ahead of yourself here. The regulator and the ignition are separate circuits, controlling different systems. When you turn the ignition on, the coil primaries, the small connections, should be both at supply voltage. I did not say 12 volts, as aftermarket ignition systems typically raise the primary voltage to something close to 500 volts. The only time that the negative side of the coil is negative, or actually zero, is when the points close or the transistor fires, creating the high voltage to the center cap of the distributor. If none, use the vehicle's original system to check for 12 volts.
Do this: check for spark at the plugs by turning the engine over. If there is none, check the following: look for low voltages switching at the coil -. If it never has voltage, look for problems at switching the battery voltage. If the voltage at the negative never switches to zero, look for distributor issues, or a defective ground.
With respect to the voltage regulator issue, I suspect a grounding issue at the regulator, and I suspect that that is the ignition issue as well. Did you leave a ground lead off? Was the ground weak to start with? Ray

 

ok, makes sense about having a - signal when the points start working..ok makes allot more sense now.. as far as the voltage regulator.. that should have no positive at the base where it mounts too then...the only thing is since i never checked it before i cant imagine it being there the whole time we used the car previously... if it was.. it was working fine, i guess i am just a little panicky about it, just wanted to check with someone else about this + power coming from the voltage regulator with someone else. i never did anything to the interior wiring, plus i never did anything to any other ground wires, now another question, is the fuse box supposed to be grounded in any way.. i will try mesing with timing still, as that might be the problem with the engine not firing up.. maybe even the distributor. who knows.

 

another dumb question.. i have a 2 wire alternator, is this the one that has the internal regulator.. also if it is, and i have the voltage regulator at the firewall, will that be a problem.

 

If it is an internal regulated alternator, then yes, adding the external regulator will be a problem.
Can you post a picture of the back side of your alternator?

 

sure i can. although i know the alternator was working fine, do you guys think since the rise in compression, the spark is not enough, let me know if you need more pics..ive been running this alt for a while now with both the 350 and 455..

 

does anyone have any tips on getting a mallory unilite brakerless distributor going, i got one from Doug down in turlock,ca and he gave me the instructions but im not getting any spark out of the distributor...i have the green wire to the - side of the coil, the red wire to the + side, and the brown wire from the engines chassis down at the water pump bolt.. im getting my power soarce from the resistance wire which i replaced close at the fuse box connection with a new 12 gauge wire, left about 2 inches down at the connector which plugs into the fusebox, and just added a connector to the new wire.. getting great voltage now and voltage regulator does not get hot anymore..about the coil im using, its a pertronix coil, i also have a stock replacement coil new.. im not running msd box or any other power box..so is this distributor capable of working without one? heres the pic of the alt.

 

Are you sure you didn't miss a ground strap somewhere? Is your battery still up front?

Also, just like the question above, when you crank the engine, are you getting spark at the spark plug?

 

Did you test the compression after you changed the cam? Changing the camshaft should not have any effect on compression.

 

Here try this. Maybe change your red wire, and here is how to test.

Mallory Knowledgebase Question:
I am having problems getting the mallory unilite distributor to fire. Is it possible for me to get a wiring diagram and or tell me how to check to see id components in distributor are good. I have the unilite dist and just the round coil it is running threw a resistor block but can get it to fire.


Solution:
Connect the red wire from the distributor to the high side of the resistor block rather than at the coil. Sometimes this will help. The green wire should be connected to the neg terminal on the coil. Brown wire must be grounded to the engine. To test the module, remove the cap and rotor. Pull the coil wire out of the cap and place the end of the wire within 1/4" of the engine block. Turn the key on so you have power to the ignition and coil. Put a credit card into the slot in the Unilite module and pull it out again. Every time you pull it out you should get a spark. If not, the module or coil is bad.

 

Tyler, when i checked the compression before when we were tuning the car, the readings i got were all in the 105-115 area. i checked it once without plugs on all engines, then Doug from turlock,ca checked it and he said they were on the low side but still within range.. then installed the cam and had the dist. at 180*s, not only that but was getting exhaust out the carb, remembered the cam i had, had a bigger lift in it compared to the kenne bell mark 2 that was going inn. adjusted the rocker arms and checked the compression again, with all the plugs off, it read constant 150 minimum with the highest one at 175 psi. i dont know if the adjustment of the rocker arms gave me change in PSI's...do you guys think that with the fuel that went in the engine from all that turning and turning, i might of over flooded the engine too much and therefore giving me a higher reading on the gauge.. i will check the psis again tomorrow...atleast i know im getting a better spark than before. another thing i forgot to mention was the fuel pump was off all the time when i was cranking it, this way i made sure i wasnt pumping too much fuel with all the cranking, although i did make sure i had enough fuel in the carb to get the engine started.

 

ok so the resistor block would be the one mallory suggested right mallory #700...so the block has 2 sides one where the ignition wire hooks up to, then the other side will have the + side red of the distributor, green would go to the - of the coil...now what will go on the + side of the coil.. now how do you remove the rotor, i tried pulling it but could not get it out...thanks

 

THIS alt does NOT have an internal reg. you need the on on the firewall.

 

ok, good i do have an external regulator mounted to the firewall..than im good as far as the alt. goes. Now time to deal with the engine not starting again, hope this morning will give me luck. thanks to all.

 

fixed the problem now...thanks to all, somehow i got the stock points distributor with the pertronix ignition to work, ended up being the roller rocker arms that needed more adjustments..thanks