Hi, I've got a '49 8n, front-mount distributor, converted to 12V by a previous owner. It's got an appetite for points - I've owned this tractor for 9 years and with light use (10-20 hrs/month) the points have never gone more than two years before burning up. Thanks to all the great info on this forum, I'm replacing all the old switches and wires, and converting the square can coil to a 12V round can, courtesy of Hobo's excellent <a href="http://www.theviperr.com/hobo_dnn/Default.aspx?tabid=69">guide</a>. The actual coil conversion went off without a hitch, but now some wiring issues have me stumped.
I thought everything on the 8n is normally grounded to the frame, but on mine there's a ground wire running from one of the two distributor mounting bolts to the negative battery terminal. The headlights are also grounded to the battery. Isn't this redundant for the distributor? Is it possible that the previous owner had trouble getting a good contact between the distributor and engine? As for the headlights, can I just connect the ground wires to the hood someplace instead of running them to the negative battery terminal?
The 12V round can coil I have (OD150 12V, MIT-015003) states "no external resistor required" right on the casing, and I measured a resistance of 4 ohms across it's pos and neg terminals. Based on the guides I've read, that's the proper resistance, so I ditch the stock ballast resistor and the ignition resistor - is that correct?
Finally, where's a good place to mount the new round can coil? I'm thinking someplace behind the dash/firewall, where it would be cool, relatively free of oil splatter, and would not require disconnection before removing the hood. Is it ok to run the high tension spark plug wire all the way from the dash area to the front-mount distributor? Any limit on the length of the coil to distributor wire? Any other reasons not to mount it behind the dash?
I thought everything on the 8n is normally grounded to the frame, but on mine there's a ground wire running from one of the two distributor mounting bolts to the negative battery terminal. The headlights are also grounded to the battery. Isn't this redundant for the distributor? Is it possible that the previous owner had trouble getting a good contact between the distributor and engine? As for the headlights, can I just connect the ground wires to the hood someplace instead of running them to the negative battery terminal?
The 12V round can coil I have (OD150 12V, MIT-015003) states "no external resistor required" right on the casing, and I measured a resistance of 4 ohms across it's pos and neg terminals. Based on the guides I've read, that's the proper resistance, so I ditch the stock ballast resistor and the ignition resistor - is that correct?
Finally, where's a good place to mount the new round can coil? I'm thinking someplace behind the dash/firewall, where it would be cool, relatively free of oil splatter, and would not require disconnection before removing the hood. Is it ok to run the high tension spark plug wire all the way from the dash area to the front-mount distributor? Any limit on the length of the coil to distributor wire? Any other reasons not to mount it behind the dash?
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