Hi All,
I'm sure one of you folks will tell me what I'm doing wrong. I recently removed my LB system and installed the ECU ignition with distributor. I have the double ballast with this kit. When I wired her in, I used the alternator field for my "run" as it goes right by the distributor anyway and used the orange starter relay wire from the bulkhead as my "Start".
I doublechecked the wiring with the diagram I received with the kit. The problem I am having is that the starter solenoid is staying engaged after the engine turns over. I only did this once to see if the engine would kick over and turned it off immediately. I am fairly sure there was no damage but how do I correct this problem. Is my starter relay's drop out voltage too low to notice the difference between the "start" voltage and the "Run" voltage coming from the other side of the ballast? I hope you folks can help, I want to get this old girl back on the road so bad. Thanks

Chuck Pfeiffer

You should not hook any of the wires that control the starter to the ballast resistor. The correct fix for this would be to find a second terminal on the ignition switch that gets power only in cranking mode but is not connected to the starter circuit when the key is in the Run position. If you do not have one, you will need a diode in the wire from the starter to the ballast resistor.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I knew it would be an easy one for you guys. Now I feel like a dope having found this out. Ha!

The ignition switch diagram in my service manual is rather tough to see if the other wafers in the switch have separate "run" and "start" poles. Can anyone let me know which connection number on the bulkhead of an '82 D150 Pickup would be a "start" wire which is not attached to the starter?
Thanks again

Chuck

If it had lean burn, the ignitin switch does not have a wire that recives power whith the key is 'start' only. The field wire you tapped into leads back to the only ignition wire a LB truck has, and it has power with the key in both 'start' and 'run'.

Just use the one ignition wire. You do not need the seperate start power wire. Yes, during cranking this will result in the coil recieving 'resisted' voltage instead of full battery voltage, but many dozens of lean burn conversions have been done this way, and it seems to work fine.

$0.02

-S/6

On my '84 D100, I ran the start wire to the top left termanal of the starter relay. It's easier than going thru the bulkhead connector. For the run wire, I used an unused switched power female connector at the end of a short red wire coming out of the engine side wire harness near the bulkhead.
I haven't checked my '82 D150 to see if it is the same wireing layout as the '84 but I think '81 to '85 are the same.

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Slant Cecil

The person that put the ign conversion on my '82 didn't use a 12v start. Most of the time it starts fine, but not as good as the '84. I'm going to add it 'one of these days'!

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Slant Cecil

Here's how I did my '84, your '82 may be the same.

I added and tied the white wire into the the top left of the starter relay. This is for 12V start.


I then ran the white wire to the right side (either side will work) of the ballast. I tied it to the red wire that goes to the coil + with a female spade connector. You can see the black/yellow ECU wire coming across the firewall that goes to the coil-. Next I tied the blue/yellow ECU wire to an additional red wire with another female spade. Plugged it into the left side of the ballast. This is for the switched 12V.


The red switched wire goes from the ballast to near the firewall bulkhead connection. I then installed a male disconnect terminal to the end and plugged it into the trucks unused switched power female disconnect terminal. The female disconnect comes out of the large wireing harness bundle at the right side in the pic.


Hope this helps you out.

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Slant Cecil