wiring the two leads to a flamethrower distributor

[Roctania]

Is there ANY chance that hooking up the wiring harness wrong killed the Flamethrower distributor?  It's just a switching circuit, right?

Or, does the module ground one wire at the command of the other and so it matters which goes where?
Why is there a bare ground lead in the distributor next to the module?

I don't understand how it is that a brand new distributor fails to trigger the coil.  The dirty original distributor works fine.

Thanks for any insight.

[Roctania]

New developments today

Replacement pertronix distributor module, which was not ready to bolt right into the Lamethrower distributor, was tested by connecting it to the car's harness then waving a strong magnet near it.  NOTHING.  

Inspection shows that it probably has the sensor in a different location than the Lamethrower needs, so glad we did not drill out the rivets and dismantle the distributor and install it.

So, at this point we have:
Lamethrower will not make spark when connected to the car's wiring, with the two wires either way around, not even with the module's ground wire connected to battery (-) - The distributor is being tested uninstalled until I see it make spark reliably.

Lamethrower CAN make spark... if we remove the car's [new reproduction] wiring harness from the equation.  Following the Lamethrower diagram in the install paperwork:

Battery positive to coil + and to distributor Red. Measures 12.5V at the junction.
Battery negative to car chassis, which is connected to the engine and thus to the coil bracket, etc.
Coil (-) to distributor black.
Coil High Voltage to a spot oh about 1/4" from a ground on the engine, so spark can be observed.
Distributor Module grounding wire jumpered to battery - or body.

This makes spark, UNLESS the module ground connection to battery (-) removed, then, no spark- Evidently the distributor ground is crucial for this system.

Now let's bring in the car's wiring.
IGN switch on provides power to the 4-prong ballast resistor, which by ohm meter testing is two separate resistors of about 1.4 and 4.1 Ohms.  We have been using mainly the 1.4 ohm side for lack of a good clue otherwise. Oddly, that half of the resistor first measured 0.0 ohms with the Fluke meter, then later 1.4, disconnected from all wires, of course. Ballast brown double wire out goes to the coil (+) [and to ].  We read ~12.5V at the battery, 10.5 at the ballast input [lost two Volts already just thru the ignition switch?], and only around 7V at the coil (+).  The coil (-) has three wires: "TACH" whose color I cannot recall, and two gray with black? stripe.  All nice new ring terminals. A gray with black evidently runs to the 4- or 5-wire connector in the ignition voodoo box on the firewall with a penta sided black rubbery connector. Ohms meter says it is connected there anyhow. Harness distributor wires plug into the distributor via a 2-wire rubbery connector similar to a trailer wiring small rubbery connector- one each male and female.  Hard to go wrong there.  

With the coil connected per above, and around 7V at the coil, the Lamethrower module grounded with a jumper, and distributor plugged into the harness via the 2-wire... NOTHING.

Unplug that Lamethrower and plug in the old grubby factory distributor, grounded or not, held in my hand, spun by hand, TONS OF SPARK. Big, fat, strong, beasty spark.  

I find this hard to understand.  You should be able to go to the store, buy a Flamethrower distributor, install it in your running car, and have it run again.  But we are finding that while an original electronic distributor makes great spark... the new Lamethrower, even with another new module, even with the module grounded to chassis, makes ZERO spark.  Well, unless you eliminate the ignition switch and resistor and run full battery voltge to the coil, AND unhook the car's three wires at the coil (-) terminal and hook the coil only to the battery and distributor.  

Next step is to bring in the Mopar Expert I guess.    

On a more positive note, installing the dome light switches was a mere matter of drilling the holes in the body out and tapping to 1/2-20 fine thread to match the pin switches, and the dome light did function as it should. 

[Roctania]

So, not any one of you has installed a Lamethrower and had it fail to make spark?

No tips at all?

[shart70rt]

I had received advice to bypass or remove the ballast resistor before installing the flame thrower distributor.

Fired right up no problems.

Have also heard not to leave the ignition key in on position without the engine actually working - can burn it up.

Stephen

[Roctania]

New developments 12/28/14

Lamethrower refuses to make spark using car's wiring. It provides NO variation in ohms reading to the two wires, when spun.  It only makes spark if connected per its instructions with NONE of the car's wiring involved.   
pitched it out in the trash can.

We find that none of the cars with the 5-wire ECU actually use all 5.  The ECU's have FOUR pins. Its mating penta connector has five wires. 

Put stock distributor in, makes spark. Using brand new single Ballast now, reads 0.9-1.0 Ohms.  Smoke came out of the ballast resistor for a few seconds at first.  A quick battery cable disconnect prevented further trouble.

Drop distributor in, align it so rotor points at #6 [long story] then align magnetic tips then move housing so that the rotating ring is a few degrees past making spark, becuse that's where the crank is now. New cap and rotor... won't go on... chinee? rotor plastic nub is to wide for the shaft's alignment slot.  Rotor must be encouraged with hammer to sit properly down, so that the cap will go in place properly. There, I fixed it.  #6 terminal is about in like with the "M" in "RPM" on the intake.  #1 post is a little right of forward, marked it yellow.  

Get out the plug wires, select the longest two, start in on LH rear plugs....WOW it's about 55" from plug to distributor cap, but the longest wire is maybe 35"  NO WAY is that working out tonight.  Another Pertronix FailFest.

We did get the synthetic 85-90W juice into the third member without problem.  

We got reasonable fuel gage readings from a distached sending unit wire, and when we grounded it, looks great there, and the "grounding jumper clip thingy" for the 3/8" fuel line from tank sending unit to the car's main fuel line may not even be needed.  We have a good tank to ground connection thru the other tank mounting points, so it seems to be working.  I see the 70 Cuda has a similar one.  I see it also has a severely kinked rubber hose between tank and main body fuel line... this may explain the stumbling or lack of full power on demand which that car exhibits.  Good fix for a later day.

Evidently this engine has never been heard of at Pertronix- it's a "four forty" and takes some hella long plug wires... 35" just ain't gonna cut it.

The search is on for the brake booster "reinforcement Plate" at the booster/ firewall area.  Photos show possibly manual brakes before, but we are having power disk brakes now.

Still trying to come up with a clever way to seal the AC and Heater lines where they pass thru the firewall.  Evidently the foam seal was supposed to go over the pipes BEFORE the dash and HVAC plenum were installed... and reside aft of the firewall.