Duraspark Upgrade

[carloperatoner]

Can anyone point me in the right direction...

I have a 70 F250 with a 360 ci engine...

It has a standard point setup and I got a duraspark setup from the bone yard....

I got another distributor at the yard today to do the swap of the insides... I have noticed that the shaft is about 1/2 longer on the point distributor than the duraspark....

Duraspark part number C8VF 12131 B
Point style D0ZF 12131 A

I suspect that I have an incorrect duraspark distributor to use as a donor, since the shaft is too short.
Any thoughts on the best one to get at the yard?

Carlo

[fordman]

what engine and car did it coem from?

[ForingaMex]

You need to keep and reuse the shaft that is in the points distributor. Why wouldn't you just use the dizzy that is in your 360 and put the Duraspark guts into it? That way you should have no problems. That is what I did to mine, changed the Duraspark guts out of a dizzy from a different type of engine into my 390 dizzy.

[fordman]

i should have thought of that. duh.

[carloperatoner]

ForeingaMex... thanks for the help. I did not want to screw up the original dizzy, just in case I was not successful in the upgrade.... So i got a donor from a 69 360 motor at the yard today.... I did not realize that the shafts are not one piece. After reading your note, I took it apart and rebuilt it tonight...

Thanks for the help... I can't wait to give it a try.... Perhaps early next week. I'll post my success or failure...

I got a blue epoxy connector on the box so i think it is a duraspark II. I have all of the wiring diagrams, and it should be easy to connect up. (I am still trying to determine whether to replace the resistance wire, get a new coil, or just use the existing coil Bat wire... What did you end out doing?

Thanks for the help....

[papabug71]

Not ot HiJack your post Carlo, but. . . .

You guys are saying you can change out the guts from one dizzy to the next?

Could I put the guts from a 360 duraspark dizzy into my 302 points dizzy ?

Im looking into the duraspark conversion myself.

[ForingaMex]

ForeingaMex... thanks for the help... Thanks for the help....

You're most welcome, I'm glad I could help. I wasn't very specific in my directions but you figured it out.

I did not want to screw up the original dizzy, just in case I was not successful in the upgrade.... So i got a donor from a 69 360 motor at the yard today....

I understand.

I am still trying to determine whether to replace the resistance wire, get a new coil, or just use the existing coil Bat wire... What did you end out doing?

For a number of years I just kept the resistance wire and original coil and it worked fine but a few months ago I removed/replaced the resistance wire and also the coil. My 390 runs noticably better (starts easier and responds better to the foot on the throttle) due to better igniton. Does that make sence?

You guys are saying you can change out the guts from one dizzy to the next?

Could I put the guts from a 360 duraspark dizzy into my 302 points dizzy ?

Im looking into the duraspark conversion myself.

Go for it, you won't regret it. I've run mine now for about 11 years and have never had any problems.
It should work for your application, I don't have experience with any other than what I did. From a 351M into my 390.
But acording to this statement from BobbyFord it works and as far as I can tell he knows what he's talking about.

"DID YOU KNOW?
You can convert an FE points-type distributor to the Ford electronic type by installing the guts from any Ford electronic distributor from a 302/351/400/460. Some Lincolns/etc got a much fancier version (that is, it does not resemble a regular electronic ignition), and eventually Ford obsoleted the compatible electronic design for a newer one, but it is good to know that there are several ways to come up with an electronic FE distributor, and converting a points-type FE distributor is a very easy way."
You do not have to use the Duraspark module, an MSD digital spark box can easily be substituted.

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... rk#p475215

[carloperatoner]

Thanks,

What did you do with the resistance wire and coil.. I'd rather only make the update once....

Carlo

[fordman]

scroll down until yo usee the correct diagram. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=48178

[ForingaMex]

I completely removed the resistance wire and replaced it with regular wire. I had my gauge cluster out anyway and part of the harness unwraped so I just as far as I had to and replaced it, from plug to plug. The coil I used was the one that goes with the Duraspark setup, the one with the 'c shaped' plug. I know there is a name for that coil but I can't think of it right now. From what I've read here on this site you can also use a TFI coil from a later model Ford (not really sure what model of year) with EFI. They have even hotter spark.
The thread that Fordman posted is a good source of information also.

[carloperatoner]

Guys,

Thanks for the help. I just finished the disc brake upgrade and I started it tonight. It's running a little rough, so I will get it running good again before I do the upgrade.. I picked up all of the parts today, so I should be ready to go....

Thanks again, I will post when I have done the upgrade...

[carloperatoner]

Been away for a while, but thought i would post an update....

Disc brakes are done, and the truck has been re-assembled. It is now out to paint, the guy is taking longer than expected to get it back to me.

in the mean time, I am getting ready for reassembly of the cab and amassing all of the parts to button the truck up. One of the open items was to get the resistance wire situation resolved. I went to the wrecking yard and got a pink resistance wire out of a donor truck. I measured the resistance, (I have some good equipment here to do that) and determined that the new resistance wire needs to be 36" long to be 1.1 ohms as recommended in the upgrade guide. I cut it and have it waiting to be installed before i close up the dash. (you cannot solder to the nichrome wire, so you should crimp the ends at the ignition and the connector in the engine compartment.) (I am going to disconnect and leave the exisiting resistance wire in the truck, just in case I want to go back to original... (I doubt that will ever happen).

The truck runs really nice now with the duraspark. Starts really easy and runs very smooth. I am actually surprised how much smoother it runs than it did when it had regular points.... I highly recommend the upgrade. I am sure that the resistance wire upgrade will insure trouble free operation at a higher level of performance.

Thanks for all of the help.

[ericknight]

Can anyone point me in the right direction...

I have a 70 F250 with a 360 ci engine...

It has a standard point setup and I got a duraspark setup from the bone yard....

I got another distributor at the yard today to do the swap of the insides... I have noticed that the shaft is about 1/2 longer on the point distributor than the duraspark....

Duraspark part number C8VF 12131 B
Point style D0ZF 12131 A

I suspect that I have an incorrect duraspark distributor to use as a donor, since the shaft is too short.
Any thoughts on the best one to get at the yard?

Carlo

If I understand Ford's part numbering system, a distributor with a C8 prefix would have been originally installed on a 1968 vehicle. D0 prefix would be 1970. What came with a duraspark distributor in 1968? I thought the duraspark came out in 1975.

[carloperatoner]

Interesting. I do not know much about the part numbering system, but I do understand that there are a couple of part numbers on the distributor. I could have given the distributor body part number, not the entire assembly. (I bet the bodies did not change much over the years..) regardless, it works nice now.
you are correct that duraspark did not hit the streets until 1975.

[fordman]

well the ford part numbers cast into the part. are only the castign numbers. which are part of the cast they made to make the parts. so you can still have a C8 part on a 72 even though they also made the same part as a D0 casting. the book has the real part numbers in it. per application. but yes mostly a C* part woudl be used until the next casting was made and parts produced. and i have seen other castign numbers that were made back in C7 that were installed until 73 or so. and those parts were never even used on our trucks. it is just when they made the mold for that part. it was already in the plans before the rest of the 73 and up trucks were finalized.