FJ60 COIL/IGNITOR INTO 75' FJ45??

[jestlurnin]

So I posted up when I went down to San Diego to make the deal for this 75' FJ45 when I couldn't get her started....well now she's in my garage so I thought I'd start a different thread. Not sure if that's bad form or not.

So here we go. Someone talk me out of swapping the aftermarket coil in my new (as of today) FJ45 for one of the 60 coils I have.

 

[jestlurnin]

The one issue I can foresee is that the 60 coil/ignitor unit looks like it hooks up to the circuit via a connector which is not present in the 45. I could however swap out the spade connectors that are in the 45 now for some ring terminals and just hook the BY wire up to the + and the other wire up to the -.

 

[jestlurnin]

Full view of her when she was still in San Diego

 

[jestlurnin]

I should also mention I do not want to change the dizzy and this time I'd like to keep the ol' small cap on her for at least a bit.

 

[jestlurnin]

Is this a really really stupid question or does nobody have an answer? I'm an electronics idiot! So I'm leaning towards the first option.

Trying to work through it though. I've read all of coolerman and pinheads posts among others but none speak exactly to what I've proposed. And like I said I'm not up enough on this stuff to ad lib at this time.

Since its a NZ truck is it a non-USA dizzy? How do I tell? Will a non-USA dizzy run with a USA coil/ignitor combo from a different era?

Do I have points or is she electronic? I've never changed points before (like my buddy did in his 71 super beetle) and the dizzy looks like my 78' FJ40 dizzy which I believe does not have points so I'd say it's electronic but I'll need confirmation on this one.

Lots of questions but mainly just want to know if I can use my coil/ignitor that came out of my 60's to get rid of this aftermarket one on my 75'

Cheers everyone!!

 

[tyama]

Hiya, I am not too informed about distributors, coils and all, but I think they're about the same (until you move from points to electronic distributors). Folks run different combos of coils and such on their dizzy's so I think what you want to do will work. I'm thinking the original distributor on your truck should be a non usa, vacuum advance with points. If it has points, You can put in a non point upgrade from petronix that helps out.

I would look at the faqs or in a FSM ( factory service manual) to see what's in there about coil and igniter upgrades and also search in the 60 section about coils. IIRC, the most sought after upgrade is getting a used 60 series distributor followed by a petronix kit. Not sure what advantage of the electronic coil is over the older ones (more consistent spark?)

Good luck, ty

 

[spotcruiser]

Uh, you need to tell us what you have. Who knows what you've got until you look? The 60 ignitor should be fully electronic, meaning it uses a reluctor signal to time plug firing. I would assume (based on the year and origin of the truck) that you have a points distributor, which would not be compatible with the 60 ignitor. Is the distributor cap held on with screws or spring clips? The best thing to do is to pop the distributor cap and see what you have. Take and post some photos while you're at it.

Is this a really really stupid question or does nobody have an answer? I'm an electronics idiot! So I'm leaning towards the first option.

Trying to work through it though. I've read all of coolerman and pinheads posts among others but none speak exactly to what I've proposed. And like I said I'm not up enough on this stuff to ad lib at this time.

Since its a NZ truck is it a non-USA dizzy? How do I tell? Will a non-USA dizzy run with a USA coil/ignitor combo from a different era?

Do I have points or is she electronic? I've never changed points before (like my buddy did in his 71 super beetle) and the dizzy looks like my 78' FJ40 dizzy which I believe does not have points so I'd say it's electronic but I'll need confirmation on this one.

Lots of questions but mainly just want to know if I can use my coil/ignitor that came out of my 60's to get rid of this aftermarket one on my 75'

Cheers everyone!!

 

[jestlurnin]

Spotcruiser thanks for the reply hopefully these pictures help. The dizzy cap stays on with stoping clips not screws.

Great info on the coil/ignitor. Hopefully these pictures will help narrow down wether I can use the coil/ignitor of which I posted pictures above on this ol' girl.

PS: I got her started this afternoon with new plugs and a new battery.

 

[spotcruiser]

Yep, that's an early or non-US distributor. You can't use it with a fully electronic ignitor like the 1978 and up models. You can use it with the early version of ignitor that used points (I forget the actual time period, but from somewhere in 1975 to the 1978 model). There's no problem running with points. Everything came stock with points up until the early 70s for the most part and then we started adding capacitive discharge units and such. Electronic ignition is better and easier to maintain and is certainly a worthy improvement goal in the future, but you can run what you have. Make sure the points are clean/dressed and properly gapped and she'll be fine.

Good luck. Have fun.

Spotcruiser thanks for the reply hopefully these pictures help. The dizzy cap stays on with stoping clips not screws.

View attachment 1009874
View attachment 1009875

Great info on the coil/ignitor. Hopefully these pictures will help narrow down wether I can use the coil/ignitor of which I posted pictures above on this ol' girl.

PS: I got her started this afternoon with new plugs and a new battery.

 

[jestlurnin]

Spotcruiser thank you sir! I don't plan on upgrading this thing any time soon. I'd like to run it with all original (or go back to original) equipment for quite some time.

With my 78' all I did with the dizzy during tune up was replace the cap and rotor. With a points dizzy do you also replace the points? Are they replaceable? Should they be replaced at the same time as the cap and rotor?

 

[spotcruiser]

Yeah, tune-ups just weren't the same after electronic ignition. Now you don't even do plugs for something like 50K plus miles. I bought my '78 FJ40 new in Dec. 77 and all of a sudden didn't have the same relationship with my vehicle.

Yeah, full-on tune-up usually involved cap, rotor, points, condensor, plugs, air filter, pcv valve, and sometimes wires. Frequently, the points, condensor, and rotor would come together as a tune-up kit (including dielectric grease for the points rubbing block). I used to clean and gap the points, clean rotor and distributor buttons, clean and gap plugs, and blow out the air filter probably a couple of times between full tune-ups, just to be out in the sun playing with the car and listening to the stereo. It was a rotation of tune-ups, oil changes, lubes, and Blue Coral wax jobs.

Spotcruiser thank you sir! I don't plan on upgrading this thing any time soon. I'd like to run it with all original (or go back to original) equipment for quite some time.

With my 78' all I did with the dizzy during tune up was replace the cap and rotor. With a points dizzy do you also replace the points? Are they replaceable? Should they be replaced at the same time as the cap and rotor?