Car won't fire

[hemi01charger]

On my 69 Charger I was snugging the rear valve cover bolt on the driver side and my ratchet bumped the relay on the firewall that the fusible link wire coming from the engine harness goes to and sparked. After that I tried to start the car and it won't fire it just cranks, but when I turn the ignition key off the engine coughs like it gets spark for a split second. Any ideas what I could have screwed up? Also I'm running the mopar electronic ignition on it and I thought maybe I fried the control box so I threw on a spare one that I knew is good and it still won't start.

[Bigblocktony]

i had that happen before, i charged the hell out of the batt/ checked the cap and rotor
made sure the firing order was correct/ put it to top dead center, put everything back poured a little gas down the carb
she fired off, reset the timming, been starting fine ever since

[hemi01charger]

The thing is with mine I had the car out driving all day timing and everything is fine. Car has been starting fine until my mishap today.

[A383Wing]

sounds like a fried ECU....I have had the same symptoms like that before...try changing the resistor?

[hemi01charger]

I tried a different ecu or as I called it in my original post a "control box" and it didn't work. As for the resistor I did away with it awhile ago. The mopar electronic ignition kits work better without the ballast resistor.

[ACUDANUT]

 You think so...No ballast resistor ?
I have a truck and a charger that sometimes I have to "jump the starter solenoid relay box"
...Other times, I don't. ?? Might be a bad ground ? Have you tried doing this (with the key on).

[hemi01charger]

Just came in from the garage. Checked to make sure I had power everywhere and I had power all the way to the plugs. So I just tried starting it and it fired right up. Must have flooded it out yesterday. Thanks guys for all the input.

About the no resistor, Mopar magazine did an article about that a few yrs back and it basically explained if ur running points use a resistor and if ur running electronic ignition don't use a resistor. Why Mopar supplies a resistor with there electronic ignition kits is beyond me.

[A383Wing]

the resistor is for the coil, not the ECU....

coil runs off about 9-10 volts...the ECU if wired in correctly runs off 14 volts....I have never seen a wiring diagram for the Mopar electronic ignition that did not include a ballast resistor for the coil

[ACUDANUT]

 Yea, me neither. 

[flyinlow]

If you fried the fusible link the car should not crank . So it's probably ok.

Worked on a car with a bad pick-up that would sometimes fire once as you returned the ignition switch to off. The coil was energized all the time ,without the pickup to tell the ECU when to break the circuit and spark the coil. When you turned off the ignition, the coil would sometimes fire once and if the rotor was lined up , that cylinder would cough.

Any chance you damaged the wiring to the ECU or distributor pickup?

POwer to the coil in start and run?  Just a couple thoughts.

[68neverlate]

the resistor is for the coil, not the ECU....

That's my understanding as well... the ballast resistor is there to protect the coil, ECU or not.  When cranking, the resistor is bypassed allowing maximum voltage to the coil and plugs for startup.  When the ignition is in the run position, the voltage to the coil is stepped down by the ballast resistor.  My understanding is that the coil is not designed to operate for long periods at maximum voltage.  You could risk burning up coils if you don't run a ballast resistor, especially on long trips...   

[W4ATL]

The coil may be fried. As they get hot and go bad you may experience very hard starting. Try replacing the coil. If that fixes it you need to put the ballast resistor back in to protect the coil.

[A383Wing]

exactly on the 2 posts above