Posted By : Chris Taylor, 01-Jul-2005,
06:29pm
Use the wiring diagram in any manual (I think even the owners manual for the Herald had a full wiring diagram!) for guidance. Basically you need to
attach the coil to the engine somewhere so that the coil case is earthed to the engine block. On Vitesse/GT6 the coil is bolted to the block, but is
earthed via the body on the Herald. Anywhere on the engine or chassis will work, but unless you can find an extra long HT lead from coil to distributor
cap, it'll have to be quite close to the distributor.
If you have not got the dynamo or alternator in position, you could bolt the coil to the mountings or tensioning bracket, or posisbly secure to the
rocker housing stud, preferably with the clamp sandwiched between two nuts so as not to tighten down against the rocker cover too tightly.
Although you can incorporate a switch in the circuit, you don't really need it as the Lucar connectors make it easy to disconnect a low tension lead to
stop the engine.
In the spirit of "hotwiring" you basically need to run a feed from the battery +ve terminal to the +ve or "SW" terminal on the coil, and a lead from
the other coil terminal to the connector on the side of the distributor. That's it! You'll actually have more trouble wiring up the feed to the starter
motor I think!
Just so as not to fry any wires, don't forget to ensure the engine earth strap is in place between engine and chassis, or make sure that both the coil
body and the battery earth (-ve) lead are directly connected to the engine block or head.
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Posted By : Ivan Yates, 02-Jul-2005,
09:11am
Thanks Chris. A bit basic I know but I haveled a very sheltered life and never got in to 'hot wiring'
Thanks again
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Posted By : Chris Taylor,
04-Jul-2005, 01:57pm
I've never done it for real either! However being a curious youth I wanted to know how it was done! Decided it might also be useful to know in
case I ever had a wiring problem or lost my keys so I could get my own car going again. I even used to keep a bit of wire with suitable Lucar
connectors on in my toolbox for that sort of eventuality. (Quite easy on a Herald as there is a suitable live terminal very close by on the
starter solenoid if I recall correctly!)