Merc 140 distributor question?

[flash5153]

My first post,,figured I might as well join the crowd!
I have a 84 four winns with a 120 in it. It has a cracked block. Im replacing it with a 140. The old 120 had this distributor cap,coil and ignition system on it. It replaces the points.
What is this all about??
I moved all this to the 140 and it would not fire/spark. (i may have had a different issue at the time that I didnt realize at the time)

I still have the engine out of the boat. But if this is a better set-up(wt no points) I want to install it,,if it will work. Do I need to change distributor too. I did not do this earlier.They look the same to me,,other than being turned 180 degrees as they sit mounted on each engine.

Anybody familiar with this set up? (I may have to take a better picture)sorry.

 

[flash5153]

To be a little clearer. The plate(under the dis cap) that normally holds the points and condenser,,has a single sealed box on it,,with 2 wires going to the coil. I have not seen this before,,,,but trying to figure out if I can swap it to the 140.

 

[s.hadley81]

thats pertronix ignition if you go to their website there should be instructions on how to properly hook them up but I would think if you had points before then you still have the ballast resistor wire in place that goes to the coil (purple wire I believe ) you need to run a wire to the coil that is a constant 12v with the ignition switch on if have electric choke splice into that and run that to the + side of coil and cap off the purple wire

 

[stonyloam]

That is a Petronix Ignitor module with a 1.5 ohm flamethrower coil. You need the resistance wire with that setup. You also need to run a full 12V to the red wire of the module. You can pick up 12V from the purple choke wire, splice in a stranded copper wire at the choke and splice to the red module wire. Should be able to just swap the plates, or swap distributors. As s.hadly says, check out the instillation sections on the Petronix website.

 

[s.hadley81]

Good catch I didn't see it's a 1.5ohm coil

 

[s.hadley81]

for a 120/140 it should be 3.0ohm not 1.5ohm pertronix recommends 1.5 for v8 engines which if you put the right coil in you no longer need the ballast/wire resistor, if you have no spark try putting your points plate in unless your positive the pertronix is in good working order cause I don't think you can just test the pertronix module with a multimeter and if you do wind up using the pertronix put your old plate with the points and condenser in a ziplock and put on the boat as a back up just in case the pertronix were to fail with the ignitor 1 if you a Ieave key on for a length of time without the motor running you can burn it up so it's nice to have the old points to get you home if it were to happen

 

[stonyloam]

That coil (1.5 ohm) with the resistor wire (3 Ohm total) should be OK, as long as you run a seperate wire for 12v to the red wire of the Ignitor module. The Ignitor is designed to work with the stock coil which is a 1.5 ohm coil with the resistance wire on a points ignition 140.

 

[flash5153]

Thanks for the responses. I just seen all this because I forgot to subscribe to my own thread. I decided to go back to the old points system. It runs well that way.

I just bought this 140 engine to replace a 120 in my boat. I put it in the boat yesterday and found out quickly I have to change the exhaust riser. And I cant get a gasket until Monday. So for now,the engine sits in the boat but not installed.

And I dont see how to subscribe to this,so I get a email when someone responds