Coolant replacement on a 66 Shelby Mustang

[deathsled]

My car is at the shop for a front end alignment after I straightened the steering wheel to align with the twelve o'clock position.  I capitulated and the Mustang shop is doing the Pertronix 12 volt wire.  He found two connections hanging out the firewall, one being for backup lights and the other for parking whatever when it was an automatic.  He did not need to tap off of the ignition switch he said.  I think the guy is reliable and honest.  He actually had tried to talk me out of the alignment saying that the notch in the steering wheel pointed at the ten o'clock shouldn't make much of a difference but I distinctly recall at least one of you saying I better get it fixed.  So I am correcting it.  I decided to do an antifreeze change before I drove over because the weather is calling to 90 degrees today.  I was concerned about a boil over (never happened yet but there are always new experiences that await us, right).  I will figure out the pedal spring myself.  I also had a problem with one of the spark plugs (second one from the back on the passenger side that was always difficult to go in.  This was a pre-existing condition to bringing the car back from Canada and this time I'd had enough.  I am very fastidious in threading plugs into their respective holes so I was not the proximate cause of this current problem.  The plug had a bit of cross threading going in earlier this year so I did not screw it in too tight.  The fear is that the head might be screwed.  I want to find out today so I had him look at it.  Otherwise, the Shelby is fine and liking that coolant change.  Shame on me for leaving it go for ten friggin' years.  It should be done every two years unless one is using the extended use technology.  Even so, the occasional flush can't hurt.  I did not remove the thermostat and run water and flush through the system.  I did a quick job.  The coolant that came out was very clean incidentally.  Strangely enough, the coolant leak around the timing cover seems to have gone with the replacement coolant and I didn't even tighten the bolts on the thermostat housing. Anyway, everyone have a great motoring day!  All of your comments and opinions are greatly appreciated.

[Bob Gaines]

Well hopefully your Mustang Shop can disguise the tapping off from the the backup light wires or other coming out of the firewall so that connection is not obvious.I don't think that there will be any adverse power side effects doing whatyour shop proposed but I like the idea better of coming off a circuit originally intended for the purpose at hand.I also like the original circuit idea especially as easy as it was outlined to be performed in the Pertronix thread. Best of luck with the work.

[deathsled]

Interesting enough with the wire split now the tachometer seems to stop around 1500 and stays there until the engine is off. Maybe the tach isn't getting enough voltage. He was not able to do the alignment because the tie rod sleeves inner and outer are inverted I think is what he said. It was put together backwards somehow. He said it won't affect the operation of the car but something is rubbing that should not when road bumps are encountered. The car is really getting a shakedown. A necessary shakedown.

[Bob Gaines]

I wish there was a shaking of one's head emoji. I would hate to think that this work was representative of the work this shop does. If it is then you should try someone else. We are not talking Mustang expertise work  but common sense workmanship and know how. Obviously he/they do not understand how the pertronix system works. According to the picture the coil now has the newly installed YELLOW (what a poor color choice for the extra wire) power wire along with the Ford resistance wire power. You should only have the new installed yellow wire and the red power wire from the module in the dist connected to the positive side of the coil .No wonder that your tach is acting up.  I suspect that your tach problem will settle down after you disconnect  the extra wire. The now extra wire (Ford resistance wire) that you took off the coil can be wrapped up with electrical tape to the Ford harness for a tidy look.If you still don't understand call me you have my number.   

[deathsled]

I wish there was a shaking of one's head emoji. I would hate to think that this work was representative of the work this shop does. If it is then you should try someone else. We are not talking Mustang expertise work  but common sense workmanship and know how. Obviously he/they do not understand how the pertronix system works. According to the picture the coil now has the newly installed YELLOW (what a poor color choice for the extra wire) power wire along with the Ford resistance wire power. You should only have the new installed yellow wire and the red power wire from the module in the dist connected to the positive side of the coil .No wonder that your tach is acting up.  I suspect that your tach problem will settle down after you disconnect  the extra wire. The now extra wire (Ford resistance wire) that you took off the coil can be wrapped up with electrical tape to the Ford harness for a tidy look. If you still don't understand call me you have my number.     

I was curious why there were three wires rocking the positive terminal of the coil after his work instead of two.  I understand your instructions and will do so in the morning then test drive to see how the tach behaves.  It was a relatively inexpensive excursion to that shop so lesson learned.  I think I will be doing a lot more work on that car myself with input from you SAAC guys where needed (which is much of the time).  Thank you for the clarification!  Have a good evening!  I will be getting on the inner and outer tie rods and sleeves.  Maybe get some nos ones or restored.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I think the Faria (?) tach requires the resistance of the original wire to work. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think there was a fix. I think the Ignighter 2 & 3 were more trouble to get working.

[Bob Gaines]

I think the Faria (?) tach requires the resistance of the original wire to work. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think there was a fix. I think the Ignighter 2 & 3 were more trouble to get working.

It seems like I remember reading about that too . I wonder if that means bypassing the resistance wire after the tach connection in the circuit?  I have to eat crow because I realize now that at present the tach is only getting signal through the resistance wire and removing it from the coil will render the tach inoperative.I plan on calling Phil at Phidon who is rebuilding a 66 tach for me and get the low down on if the Faria tach requires the resistance wire in the circuit or not.I will post as soon as I know.  

[shelbydoug]

Dual points are looking better and better. 

[deathsled]

Dual points are looking better and better. 

Yes!

[Bob Gaines]

I am waiting on a call back from Phidon.

[Bob Gaines]

Ok I got the low down from the tach builder Phill at Phidon in regards to this wiring. Three ways that you can go. The 1st way is the easiest for you given your current set up. Take off the yellow added power wire from the + side of the coil . Take off the red power wire from the module in the distributor. Leave the Ford harness with resistor wire in place on the + side of the coil. I think your current one has a 90 degree boot on it. You connect the two wires you took off coil (yellow and red from module ) together. Make sure the two have a good connection and wrap them up to prevent grounding. That way you are getting the keyed 12V to the module that is needed for optimum performance and also the wire to the coil that connects to the tach that measures the pulses for the tach to read RPM.  Way #2 is that you tap into the harness at the butt connector on the side that connects the tach to the resistance wire in the harness. Your resistance wire still goes to the coil. The wire you added goes out and connects to the red wire coming from the module and connects in the manner described in way #1. #3 way can not be used with a yellow top coil unlike #1 and #2. #3 way is that you tap off of the harness in the same place and way as #2 way and then run a new wire out to the positive side of the coil. A after market coil that has a internal ballast resistor can take the by past resistor wire full 12 volts and the wires for the system can be wired up as you had them in the beginning (Pertonix illustration) that way providing 12v to the module which is ideal . Many thanks to Phill at Phidon.

[Bob Gaines]

I think the Faria (?) tach requires the resistance of the original wire to work. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think there was a fix. I think the Ignighter 2 & 3 were more trouble to get working.

I found out that the tach does not need the resistance wire to work. Ignitor 1 and 2 should work routed in any of the ways outlined in my previous post . Interesting enough the ignitor 3 is the one that is not compatible with the tach and is like a MSD ignition where you need the MSD tach adapter wired in for the tach to work. Many thanks to Phill at Phidon.

[deathsled]

I spliced the Pertronix red module wire to the yellow 12 volt wire and left the resistor wire on the positive and now the car only turns over but does not fire.  It actually sounds like my Saleen Mustang when I removed the rotor from the distributor to prevent easy theft.  I can change back to the three wires again on the positive and shop around for a dual points distributor me thinks.

[Bob Gaines]

I spliced the Pertronix red module wire to the yellow 12 volt wire and left the resistor wire on the positive and now the car only turns over but does not fire.  It actually sounds like my Saleen Mustang when I removed the rotor from the distributor to prevent easy theft.  I can change back to the three wires again on the positive and shop around for a dual points distributor me thinks.

I would use a multimeter and check your yellow power wire for 12 volts with the key on. It sounds like you are not getting power to your module.

[deathsled]

I spliced the Pertronix red module wire to the yellow 12 volt wire and left the resistor wire on the positive and now the car only turns over but does not fire.  It actually sounds like my Saleen Mustang when I removed the rotor from the distributor to prevent easy theft.  I can change back to the three wires again on the positive and shop around for a dual points distributor me thinks.

I would use a multimeter and check your yellow power wire for 12 volts with the key on. It sounds like you are not getting power to your module.

Okay.  I will have to buy a multimeter. Then I will see.  These issues are interesting for me, getting into how things work.