Fitting Bestek Ignition System

[speedtripledan]

All the bestek required when i fitted mine was switched12v+ and a ground. that is it the 12v went to the coil + the grd was to the little loom on the bestek.no other connection to the car was required apart from tacho which was to the coil -

[Guest jasonmorris]

The system has a two wire plug on it that connects to the positive and negative terminals on the coil. It must be correct because the coil came in the box new with these two wires already connected to it.

 

The ground wire is connected to a piece of stainless that is riveted to the left hand side chassis rails in the engine bay. This is where the ground was connected to for the system I removed and worked fine until the rotor arm cracked on boxing day.

 

I will attach a couple of pics later when I download them from my phone onto my laptop.

 

Rgds,

 

Jason

[Guest jasonmorris]

Dan the Bestek box has two lots of wires coming out of it. One set carries two wires that connect via a plug connector to the coil. These then split from the outer sheath and connect to the positive and negative terminals on the coil. The coil arrived new with these already attached and all I should have to do is plug in the connector to the Bestek box connector. Is this different from the system you had? There is a intemperate blue wire also from the Bestek box, which the instruction diagram says is connected to a good earth.

 

Rgds,

 

Jason

[speedtripledan]

It had a little loom which joined the dizzy, coil and the bestek box together impossible to connect wrong as you have said. i assume you have tested for 12v and a good grd ?

[Guest jasonmorris]

Those are next jobs on the list. However the system I removed worked perfectly, so I just assumed the switched live to the coil, would still be a switched live. Mmm a bit of testing me thinks.

[Longboarder]

All these ignition systems work by switching the earth on the coil. So coil neg should have a lead from the Bestec box, presumably negative and the tach wire on it. The coil neg does not have an earth on it.(otherwise you can't switch it as its always earthed!)

The coil positive has a 12v ignition live supply only. It's on all the time the ignition is on. Bestec loom may like to use this as a handy 12v supply to the bestec box and dizzy but I have always found it is better to find another ignition live source for these.

Sounds like the bestec box also likes to have it's own earth which should be connected to earth, not the coil neg.

 

Sitting on the front left(nearside) wheel looking at the dizzy the rim mark for TDC, the rotor arm and plug lead number 1 should all be at 4 o'clock. See pic below. Set engine to TDC, (top of compression stroke on 1), remove dizzy, set rim mark at 4 o'clock, set rotor at same point, fidle dizzy back in. You will notice the rotor has moved quite a bit from the rim mark. Remove dizzy and preset rotor the same distance the other side of the rim mark. Now fiddle the dizzy back in and the rotor should be aligned with the rim mark. Timing should now be good enough to start the engine and accurately adjust using a timing light to a more exact advance position.

 

Nigel

 

Simplest way to find compression stroke of number 1 is pull the plug on number one, stick your finger in the hole and turn the engine with a spanner on the crank nut. There will be a distinct farting noise as number 1 comes up on it's compression stroke and your finger will feel the pressure!

[Guest jasonmorris]

Hi Nigel and thanks for your input. The timing mark on my dizzy is at about the 1 o'clock position, and the rotor arm lines up with it when the timing mark on pulley is at tdc on compression stroke. Is this critical even though the rotor arm lines up and the dizzy leads are correct?

 

Rgds

 

Jason

[Longboarder]

Not really I suppose but those are the positions Ford used.

Just remembered a point. Centre of rotor arm lines up with rim mark, not leading edge.

 

Nigel

[Guest mower man]

Jason ,I can do any times [with in reason] whar about Saturday ? mower man

[Guest jasonmorris]

Mower man that would be great. I've obviously made a simple error somewhere as its not even trying to spark. Be good to have someone who's fitted this before. I know Dan had a bestek also so I intend to pick his brains on Wednesday. Are u at the meet on Wednesday?

 

Rgds,

 

Jason

[Guest mower man]

Mower man that would be great. I've obviously made a simple error somewhere as its not even trying to spark. Be good to have someone who's fitted this before. I know Dan had a bestek also so I intend to pick his brains on Wednesday. Are u at the meet on Wednesday?

 

Rgds,

 

Jason

Hi Jason 99.9% sure to be there on weds see you there ! mower man

[Guest jasonmorris]

Nigel, that is how I set it so that the centre of the rotor arm lines up. I'm almost certain that I have made a mistake or cocked something up with the simple wiring. One thing I have just discovered is that I should have disconnected the battery and I'm hoping this hasn't blown anything. I've checked all fuses and they are fine, but just hoping I haven't blown the coil or the bestek amp. I think some testing with the multimeter is required.

 

Jason

[Guest Tobe]

I was speaking to John from Bestek the other day, with regards buying a kit.

He did say he would be more than willing to help with anything he could over the phone. Maybe worth calling him?

Also, sounds silky, the ignition alp needs an ignition live, has this been connected?

 

It's s quite interesting because I'm about to go through this.

I know absolutely nothing!!! About distributors, give me a diesel and I'm sorted(agricultural engineer) but its a steep learning curve.

Surely it would be worth putting the crank to TDC then inserting the dizzy also set to TDC?

As you say Haynes has a picky of which way round the leads go?