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I've got a question regarding the duraspark I wiring. All the diagrams I have seen show that power from the run post on the ignition switch comes in on the red wire and power from the start circuit comes in on the white wire. In trouble shooting a system today we had power on the red wire and power on the white wire as noted above at the connector feeding the module but the engine would not start. We then noticed that the red wire actually connects to the white wire on the module and the white to red (male side of plug reverse of female side). By disconnecting the plug and installing a jumper from red to red the engine fired up. The first thought was that the NEW module had the wires in the plug installed incorrectly. Comparing the new to the old however shows that it also reversed the wire colors across the plug. Since the car ran for years with the old module it did not seem prudent to cut and change the wires. We opened yet another new module and it
also reverses the red and white wires across the plug. We went ahead and hooked up the newest module and the car fired right up with the red power wire connected to the white wire into the module.
I guess we should not fix it since this is the way it has worked for years but why would Ford reverse the wires? Even in the Ford wiring diagram it shows the run power connected to the red input.
Would like to hear from anyone who has any insight.
Forest
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Forestg have you seen the multiple threads with wiring diagrams on this forum on the Duraspark (do a search)....George /Mr.Cowboy posted some very good info on the two systems and doing conversions from the dual point systems to the Duraspark. I recall as Doug said, there are two different modules and there are some minor difference between them...but I want to say the better one is the Duraspark I module due to the performance features.
Hi Forest

I've checked my Ford books and was able to verify the red wire & white wire are oriented the same in the connectors for both the Duraspark I & Duraspark II modules. The red wire is the module's power wire, the white wire tells the module when the car is being started, its usually connected to the small wire that energizes the starter relay.

I've never personally run across a discrepancy in the wire coloring used in the modules or the harnesses. I assume the modules with the reversed wiring colors are new, recently manufactured modules?

That's about all I can think to mention.

-G
Last edited by George P
George is correct, the red and white pins in the in the 2 pin connector are the same for both the Duraspark I and II. It is the 4 pin connector where they are different. I did the complete I install this summer and discovered that two of the 4 pins are different on the I compared to the II schematics posted some time ago. If you search you will see my post with the correction. You can also go to Rock Auto and look up a DuraSpark I (CA Emission) and II (Fed. Emission) for a '77 Mustang V8 and click the link for the Airtex Wells brand boxes and it will show the pin out difference between the I and the II four pin connector.

By the way the DuraSpark I box works perfectly with no ballast resistor and a 0.7 ohm coil as it was designed to do. I have wound my 393 to 6500 rpm with no issues using a DUI re-built DuraSpark dizzy. It also works well with the MSD billet dizzy.

One other note as George's schematic shows is to make sure and provide the +12V feed through an independent relay that is controlled by the key but is supplied by the battery through a dedicated fuse. The I box can pull some serious current compared to a stock system.
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