Ignition resistor wire.

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Karl
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Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Karl »

G'day,
Has anybody replaced the ignition resistor wire in there car? If so is it easy to remove it from the junction block in the firewall ?
Karl.
1963 Thunderbird Hardtop
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by ABQTBird »

Have you actually been able to locate where it goes?

On my 62, it is a pink wire that oddly goes into a wiring harness that heads up toward the radio to parts unknown. It doesn't appear to go through that junction block on the lower driver's side where everything else is. I have tried to figure it out several times with no success. Somewhere it splits into a red/green-stripe wire that goes to the coil and a brown wire that goes to "I" on the starter relay. The diagram shows a bulkhead of sorts, but I don't think that exists. Mine was melted at the exposed end at the ignition switch. When I went to a Pertronix unit, I abandoned it anyway, choosing to run a 12V wire directly from the ignition switch to the coil. If you do know where it goes, I think it would be impossible to get it out of the cloth loom material anyway.

Image
Tom in Albuquerque
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Karl
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Karl »

G'day Tom thanks for your reply.

No I haven't actually tried to trace the wire.
The reason I asked the question is on the weekend I changed the points, plugs and condenser over. The points have only done 4,000 miles and they looked burned out. I thought it might have been the resister wire so I put my multimeter on the positive side of the coil to see if I was getting less then 12v . The meter read 12v . Now I am by no means fluent in the use of multimeters. I do know that if I place the leads across the battery terminals I can tell if the alternator is charging or not.
So yesterday I performed the tests as outlined in the 62 manual and all three readings that I got says that the resistor wire and everything else is good. (In my first test I didn't place the jumper wire on the distributor, maybe this is where I went wrong). I will do the tests again just to see if I get the same results, just to be sure.
I did find that the positive wire that goes to the coil has a half break in it where it attaches to the coil so I will have to repair that.

Here is a image of the wiring diagram that I use for my 63. Most of the diagrams that I have seen are that of a 62 car which has a generator. This diagram is similar to a 64 schematic. I have gone over it using Autocad and made it more easier to read. It to has a pink wire and joins at the firewall.

Image

I was just wondering if anybody has had to replace it, as you mentioned I think it would be a pain to try and remove from the harness. Not to mention removing it from the junction block at the firewall. Probably be better to just run the wire separate and leave the original one in the loom. You can by the pink wire so there must be a need for new one's
Karl.
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Peddller
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Peddller »

The pink resistor wire runs from the switch to the upper firewall block on the drivers side. On the engine compartment side of the same block two wires leave that pin, one is black/green which goes to the coil and the other is brown and is the starting boost wire that goes to one of the small terminals on the starter solenoid. They run together in the same loom up over the driver side fender and in the vicinity of the voltage regulator the coil wire and others break off and go toward the top front of the engine and the brown wire continues on across under the radiator shield to the solenoid. The engine compartment side wires are just normal primary wire.
Bill Clark
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by ABQTBird »

The pink resistor wire runs from the switch to the upper firewall block on the drivers side.
That is distinctly different from the 62. I cannot find the branch on mine.
Tom in Albuquerque
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1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
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Peddller
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Peddller »

Tom, I am not sure which "branch" you are speaking about but the resistor wire is on the passenger compartment side coming from the switch. It may not be the entire length of wire from the switch but the resistor wire is in that section. The drawing looks like the resistor portion is just before the firewall block and there is a bullet disconnect which probably converts it back to primary wire toward the switch. This is shown in the 62/63 service manual.
Last edited by Peddller on Wed Jul 13, 2016 8:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Bill Clark
Bel Air, Maryland
1957 F code
2005 50th anniversary
1963 Avanti R2
1956 GMC Suburban Carrier pickup
1966 Corvair Corsa Turbo
Prior Birds
1963 M code SR
1964 Convertable
1965 convertible
Peddller
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Peddller »

Tom, I am wrong about where they split on the engine compartment side. They both leave pin 2 on the upper block but then separate behind/below the brake booster and the engine bundle including the coil wire runs along the top of the passenger side valve cover to the front of the engine. I'm wrong on the coil wire color also, red/green don't know where I came up with black/green. My mistake.
Bill Clark
Bel Air, Maryland
1957 F code
2005 50th anniversary
1963 Avanti R2
1956 GMC Suburban Carrier pickup
1966 Corvair Corsa Turbo
Prior Birds
1963 M code SR
1964 Convertable
1965 convertible
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by ABQTBird »

Tom, I am wrong about where they split on the engine compartment side. They both leave pin 2 on the upper block but then separate behind/below the brake booster
My early 62 does not have any upper block. There is only one block down low by the headlight dimmer switch. That is why I cannot find the wire. It is almost impossible to get to it. I cannot figure out where the resistor wire connects to the brown booster wire that goes to the starter relay nor the 9V wire that goes to the coil. The pink wire goes into the loom and then it gets lost. It's a moot point for me now, as have run a 12V wire to a Pertronix system. I see your past car was a 63 so Ford must have changed some things around. This is evident with the relocation of the fuse box.
Tom in Albuquerque
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1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
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Peddller
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Peddller »

The schematic I was using was out of a 62/63 shop manual, they were combined with a 63 supliment. If yours was an early car maybe look at a 62 wiring schematic/diagram.
Bill Clark
Bel Air, Maryland
1957 F code
2005 50th anniversary
1963 Avanti R2
1956 GMC Suburban Carrier pickup
1966 Corvair Corsa Turbo
Prior Birds
1963 M code SR
1964 Convertable
1965 convertible
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by ABQTBird »

The schematic I was using was out of a 62/63 shop manual, they were combined with a 63 supliment. If yours was an early car maybe look at a 62 wiring schematic/diagram.
I am. That's where the schematic clip above came from. It does not match reality, as do a lot of things in the shop manual and electrical assembly manual.
Tom in Albuquerque
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1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
Past T-Bird: 1960 Convertible, 1974-1978
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Karl
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by Karl »

G'day Tom.
I have found that the wiring schematic for a 63 doesn't quite match up to the on in the 62 manual. there is no complete schematic in the 63 supplement, just individual different wiring drawings. And sometimes these small schematics don't have colour codes. Even one schematic that I purchased purely for a 63 is not right as it has a generator in it.
I found one on the internet for a 63 and this is the one that I used above.
As far as the pink wire goes, mine is joined to a wire under the dash (which goes to the ignition switch) and then goes to the block on the firewall that is down near the dimmer switch. It then splits on the engine bay side from the junction block and travels to the coil and the stater solenoid.
Karl.
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tbird
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Re: Ignition resistor wire.

Post by tbird »

Karl
With out looking at any of the wiring diagrams what you have found would work the way the system is designed too, the wire off the ignition switch would be energized with the switch in the run position this would feed the pink resistor wire going to the coil at the coil you should find around 8 volts when the car is running, this is what the coil is designed to work on. When you turn the switch to the start position the wire from the starter relay or solenoid would supply 12 volts to the coil for a hotter spark and faster start, let the key go back to the run position after the engine is running and you now get the power fed through the resistor wire.

Have not investigated a 61/63 resistor wire but on the 64/66 after plugging into the short feed for the switch it takes a trip across to the right side under the dash and then doubles back to feed the coil, this would be to get sufficient resistance for the required voltage drop.
Jim Mills
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VTCI 1964-66 Technical Editor
2002 Thunderbird
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1962 Convertible (in progress)
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