coil wiring question

[phillip ridley]

hello everyone i m wiring the coil on my 1969 spitfire but i m unsure off witch wire goes on the negative post could anyone help with this many thanks phill

[piman]

Hello Philip,

assuming your battery is connected negative to earth, then the white/black wire which connects to the distributor goes to the coil negative.

The car will run with the coil polarity reversed but it won't give as good a spark.

Alec

[phillip ridley]

there only one wire coming from the distributor and its red dont no much about electrics

[phillip ridley]

im not getting any spark at all probobly because there is a wire missing from the coil but i dont no its the earth side wire thats missing thanks :-/

[piman]

Hello Philip,

if it's a red wire it's non standard, is there some electronic gubbins inside the distributor cap? If you are unsure post a picture and someone will probably recognise it and advise further.

Alec

[phillip ridley]

thanks Alec you were spot on with you last post the wiring had been changed witch threw me with it being red i automatically thought it should have been put on the positive side off the coil i was wrong and you put me on the wright track ive got her running thanks to you   :) :) :)

[piman]

Hello Phillip,

good to hear you've got it working.

British car wiring colours are not as logical as red for positive. The system is good however and the major colour identifies the area that it is used in and the minor (tracer) colour is for a specific application. E.g., blue is a major colour used for lighting circuits with blue\white being for main beams. Brown is battery connection, green is ignition fed to auxiliaries, white is ignition (hence white\black being coil to distributor) and so on. Beware though there can be anomalies.

Alec