I finally wired my '79 up this evening for DLIDFIS ignition, and it worked perfectly! I just hooked everything up temporarily to test it, and had no issues. More on my DLIDFIS experience in another topic later...



I'm now in the process of cleaning out the stock harness of all the excess wires, but I'm not entirely sure about the main ballast resistor that goes to the "ignition relay". I'm under the impression I don't need this anymore, but would appreciate it if someone could shed some light on the subject.



Now that my coils are running 12v all the time, I'm guessing I can pitch these components if that's what they actually do. Does the ignition relay simply provide the coils with full 12v during cranking, or some other function?





Pics available on request, but for now.. I sleep.

Since this is a new thread, why don't you detail what parts you used?



The ballast resistor should not be used unless you kept the points. I used my ballast resistor coil screws to hold the J-109 ignitors to the aluminum heat sink. All I had to do was slightly enlarge the holes in the aluminum covers on the backs of the ignitors so the screws could fit all the way through.



I think you're right about the relay. You'll need to determine which wires go where. One goes to the starter solenoid from the start position of the key. Another wire from the start position goes to the coils to feed 12V for cranking. Another wire from the On postion goes through the ballast resistors so the coils only get 6-9 volts for normal running.



Hurray! Another working DLIDFIS install! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/bigok.gif

Yes - okay to remove ballast resistor and relay.



Be sure to use the correct "transistor ignition" type coils, as the points type coil probably has a higher resistance (sorry, I don't have one here to check), which can hurt performance. I have measured the Diamond coils to be 1 ohm, some others are around 1.5. Note that if you check your coil with an ohmmeter, you first need to touch the probes together to see the resistance of the probe wires and subtract that out of the final reading. Also most ohmmeters are probably not real accurate for such low readings.

Thanks for the feedback. I've got about 5 Diamond coils kicking around, and they are all in good shape (resistance-wise). I'll post more info once everything is finished up, as I've been taking very detailed photos & making diagrams. Even if it helps just one '79 owner to upgrade their distributor and ignition I'll be satisfied.



Right now I've pulled about twenty feet of 25-year-old, gooey, sticky electrical tape from the wiring harness between the stock coils & resistors to just below the fusable links. I'm stopping there, cutting out all the old, unused wires, and replacing my fusable links with a fusable distribution box.



Before the cutting begins, I'm going to wire the ignition up back to stock and take some recordings of the exhaust. It was an impressive night & day difference with DLIDFIS, even before confirming the timing with the new distributor.

and what did you use to tap into the magnetic pickups on the dizzy...did you plug into the plastic harness with some sort of clips...or snip the wires on the pickup and crimp new wire in?...or something else??



I picked up some 14 guage wire today...for that specific purpose...gonna get a large quantity of that black plastic hose wrap junk to cover everything with before I try to tackle this again...



ehm...and did you hook the 12V on your coils up to the old 12v coil harness...or did you run a totally new harness with power relays??...i was thinking of relaying power to the new coils from my gold plated GM terminal...its got two 8 guage holes not in use at the moment that I could easily use as power sources...if I was to order relays of course



i'm not sure if I want to hook those MSD 2 coils directly into my old wiring or not...don't know what it can take...and I certainly don't want any fires

That would be very cool if you could record the differences under the same conditions (same mic distance from tail pipe or whatever). https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png

I remember EXACTLY where i had the recorder placed...so it shouldn't be a problem...its just coming up with the money to get the "good" parts...cuz If i'm going to do this again...i'm going to do it right https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



I'm assuming the "wells" GM HEI ignitors from autozone are good?...they're pretty cheap but its lifetime...and a lot of the crap on my car is wells



its either that or i could get some of those "flamethrower" ignitors...but some of my friends that drive GM's say they're dangerous for some reason https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/wink.png



perhaps theres a reason they're called flamethrowers?....ehhhh...I dunno

For the pickups, I once gutted a pair of broken ignitors and soldered in wires from the pickup terminals to the top terminals, then filled it with silicone. Makes a nice, rugged connection.



You won't set your wiring on fire with Blasters. The only problem you will likely encounter is reduced performance from excessive wire resistance (old wires oxidize). Anyway maximum current draw is limited to about 5.5 amps by the J109 ignitors. I don't know what the limit is on a GM/Wells ignitor.

On another note: I once had problems with Blasters on the stock ignitors (misfiring), but those ignitors may have been flaky. A Blaster is about 0.7 ohm compared to 1.0 ohm for a Diamond coil.

I've skimmed the thread and will answer all the questions ASAP... right after I finish making a few last adjustments & take the "after" recordings. To quickly respond to the magnetic pickup signal question, I was using a stock '80 ignitor box and used tap-in connectors on the leading wires. More info & a complete writeup to follow, but here is a quick photo:



http://members.shaw.ca/cg-computers/...IgnitorBox.gifhttp://members.shaw.ca/cg-computers/...ing_Tap-in.gif