Electrical Upgrades

Tiny
CHIP JENKINS
  • MEMBER
  • 1976 JEEP CJ7
  • 5.9L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 100,000 MILES
When I first bought this vehicle back about ten years ago, it had been upgraded to electronic ignition. The famous Prestolite Gold Box and distributor. So I was told. I am under the impression that it came with a points distributor from the factory. I cannot be sure. So when I got it, it needed re-wired and I bought a GV16 kit from Centech and installed it. It has been working okay but I really have not been driving it much until recently. I followed the instructions from Centech as best I could. The ignition have several options so I believe that I chose the correct one. The only problem that I experienced was the ignition fuse would blow once in awhile. It would turn over but not start when the key was not in the start position. I ran a power wire from the panel to the 'S' side of the solenoid and it apparently fixed the problem. I now believe this to be a mistake. Fast forward to more recently, I had trouble with getting fuel to the engine, so I put in an electric fuel pump and ran the wire from the relay to the 'S' side of the Ignition module (I am going to move that to one of the spare fuses on the fuse panel). Fast forward to last month, I needed to upgrade the prestolite and I purchased the MSD streetfire ignition module, MSD Blaster 2 coil, and a rebuilt Motorcraft distributor from A1 Cardone. Installed it all with no problem and went to buy a cap and rotor because the distributor did not come with one. That is when it took a bit of a turn. I found out that nobody makes a cap that will fit the Cardone distributor. I even called Cardone and asked a tech person. Lots of caps are compatible in the books but none fit. Looking for other options, I went to Summit Racing again and bought an HEI distributor for the AMC-360, and returned the Baster two and the Cardone distributor. Then I started wiring. The MSD streetfire module main power and main ground wires were wired direct to the battery. I made the connections to the distributor according to the instructions (see attached). Except I am not sure where to attach the red control wire from the Module where it says "heavy pink or red wire from vehicle wire harness". Where should that be attached? I attached it to the 'S' terminal on the solenoid. With it wired this way, every time I engage the starter and it starts, it immediately burns the ignition fuse. Charles
Monday, December 12th, 2016 AT 7:52 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
The heavy red wire according to your picture go to a twelve volt supply so anywhere that has twelve volts with key on only is where to connect it.
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Tuesday, December 13th, 2016 AT 8:08 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 13,465 POSTS
You really should not need the MSD unit with the HEI distributor. However the large red/pink wire should be a switched power feed. On when the switch is in on and start only. Connecting it to the S terminal means it only gets power while the key is turned to the start position.
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Tuesday, December 13th, 2016 AT 9:03 AM

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