Reply to "Engine Cutting Out"

This situation has gone from bad to worse.

It turns out I don't need a ballast resistor with an MSD box, so I bypassed it by connecting the two wires together. That seemed to work for a short while. It barely stumbled once or twice on an hour long ride, but when I turned around to come home, it really started bucking and lurching (from constantly wanting to cut out). I didn't think I was going to make it home, but I did.

I got back to it today to attack some of the excess wiring in my engine bay. Whoever was in there previously seems to have not known the slightest thing about wiring, or maybe just didn't care. There are about 4 or 5 wires on each of the coil's terminals when there's only supposed to be one on each. Some of these wires are even cut somewhere down their length. Wires are butt spliced here and there for the electric fuel pump, the choke, the tach adapter, etc. It's a horrible mess.

I removed the cut wires that went nowhere and isolated some of the others. So now I turn the key, and the exact opposite of what was happening is happening. At first, The engine would crank a little and try to start, but when I released the key it would cut right out. Now it cranks endlessly and when I release the key it starts and runs! I let it warm up, and shut it off just to restart it. Normally, flick the key and it will kick right on. Again, it cranked endlessly and when I released the key, it started. I did this several times with the same results.

I took it for a test drive and barely made it to the corner. Now not only is it wanting to cut out, but it's also spitting and popping and backfiring like it is now out of time! WTF ?!? I tried for the next corner, but it wasn't happening by a long shot. I turned around and put it back in the garage.

Kingston is next weekend and I'm at a loss. How could the engine all of a sudden be backfiring? I didn't change anything except removing cut wires. I even put those back just because it was the only thing I did differently, but no change. I can see an electrical issue causing the engine to cut out cleanly, or go on and off. I can't see an electrical issue causing the engine to pop and backfire (badly) all of a sudden.

Any thoughts? (Tomorrow is just about my last day to conquer this before I miss Kingston.)

Michael