Dick:
Smoke leaking out between the ignition switch and starter, huh??
Have you reviewed the state of the ballast resistor??
The 4/4 Crossflow ignition circuitry includes a ballast resistor which
drops the voltage normally supplied to the coil via the points to 6 volts.
The apparent theory behind this is to reduce point pitting.
During the starting process, a second circuit in the starter solenoid is
made live which passes a full 12 volts to a "T" just beyond the Ballast
Resistor. This purportedly increases the power available to the spark
plugs to give a hotter spark. (I don't know enough about the theory of
coil functionality to say if it is doubled or if there a significant level
of inefficiencies to reduce the value).
A potential problem may be occurring with the secondary coil lead off of
the solenoid (assuming your replaced solenoid has the secondary lead); or
the ballast resistor may be reaching the end of it's life (although the one
on my 1970 has been ?humming? merrily away for 28 years and 110,000 miles.
I am actually running a solenoid from a Ford Pinto 98 cubic engine, circa
1971/72 since my last Ford of England solenoid decided to do a Lucas. This
solenoid has the proper voltage set-ups etc.
Having never had to deal with a new ballast resistor (touch ash), I can't
really give you an idea where to go for a new one.
Good Luck (see you at Cambria next weekend????)
Phil Fisher
1970 4/4 4-seater
1992 Plus 8
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