two questions

[fredo74]

I'm right in the middle of doing the tbi swap on my scout. I have two questions though.

Is it possible to use the magnetic pickup from the gold box distributor, or is swapping over to the ford internals the only way for it to work?

Question two, should the ignition spark even if the fuel pump relay is disconnected? I was thinking the computer might shut off ignition if it detected a problem with the fuel system....just a thought. Figured someone here might know.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Bill usn-1]

Re: two questions

Originally posted by fredo74
I'm right in the middle of doing the tbi swap on my scout. I have two questions though.

Is it possible to use the magnetic pickup from the gold box distributor, or is swapping over to the ford internals the only way for it to work?

Question two, should the ignition spark even if the fuel pump relay is disconnected? I was thinking the computer might shut off ignition if it detected a problem with the fuel system....just a thought. Figured someone here might know.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The gold box dist is not a true magnetic pick up. It is a hall effect pick up. therefore the signal is too weak to use. The Dura-spark conversion on this web site is by far the cheapest way to have a useable mag pick up.
The next cheapest would be the GM/IH dist Mark has put together. It is also talked about on this site. These are made 1 at a time right now and you need to contact Mark for assistance on them.


It will spark. The computer will only turn the fuel pump on for about 4 seconds when you first turn the key on then it will turn it off until it detects a spark from the ignition. There is also an oil pressure safety sw on the factory systems to turn off the fuel if no oil press is detected. good for accidents or when you are up side down!!!!!

[fredo74]

Yeah, I knew about the oil pressure switch. Thanks for the info Bill. I actually got frustrated with the pickup about a half hour after I posted this and decided to yank the distributor and do the ford conversion. Oreilly auto had the magnetic pickup and the reluctor ring for the ford IN STOCK believe it or not. So tomorrow I'm just going to run out to the junkyard and yank a ford baseplate. After that I guess I should be good to go.