Starting Problems on Tower of Power

[ace_boy]

I am having some problems staring my 115 hp early 70's Tower of Power. I took it to the shop and they wanted $550 to replace the controls and wiring harness. Being a college student, I cannot afford that... What they did tell me though was that they found a problem in the key switch and they couldnt find a replacement. Basically, there is no spark when the key is in the start position, but there is a spark when it is in the on position. My thought was to put in a push button switch so that you could turn the key to the on position and and use the button to fire the starter.

Has anyone done this before? I have the wiring schematics in front of me, but I am not exactly sure what wires I should connect. Its an inline 6 if you didnt know, I can find out which year if needed.
Thanks, Adrian

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Starting Problems on Tower of Power

The correct ignition switches are widely available for all standard outboard ignitions. That motor has a distributor, yes? If so, power needs to be applied to the white wire on the switchbox. This white wire I refer to is not the one to the distributor, but goes thru the harness to the MerControl. For testing purposes you can put a jumper from the red wire on the switchbox (always +12V) to the white ignition wire, and the motor should have spark, if everything else works. You can disassemble the MerControl and test continuity on the ign switch terminals. Yellow is the starter solenoid, grey is the choke, white is ignition, brown is tach signal, black is ground, orange is the killer wire for the ADI ignition, and is unused on a distributor ign.