Perma Tune and no spark
 

Hey guys. Recently acquired a 74 911 targa. Supposedly the tranny was not working.He said Syncros were bad. Car has been sitting for 6 years. Was started about a year and a half ago. Has not started since. Motor was rebuilt and ran great before transmission went out. Got my shift Linkage coupler bushing and put it in. Now trying to get the 74 911 started to see if that was the tranny problem.
Car won't start, will turn over but no spark at the plug.
So far I have changed, fuel filter, oil filter and oil.
Checked and cleaned dist cap and rotor.
Re wired the coil wires and the wires coming from the Perma Tune box. ( Some one had used clear double speaker wire to ground the permatune box to the inside coil strap nut?? seemed weird.
Checked all connections back there, have power, car turns over all gauges work, fuel pump makes noise. So?
I have heard The Perma Tune box is less than reliable. Would that have died sitting around for years? Will a msd box, coil, and tach adapter fix my problem or is it some other super simple thing that porsche owners know about that this dumb muscle car car guy can't figure out?? Any help appreciated, thanks.

are the points making and breaking? do you have 12V to the red wire in the permatune plug?

You are up early! yeah 12 volts checked and points are good. Someone called the permatune permajunk? Not sure if that is a common thing with those. Thanks for the reply

no spark
 

Perma Tune Technical Support for Porsche 911


if your permatune is one of the early blue units, they were standard equip on some mid-year 911s (had one in my 77S) and are considered to be good. I've provided a link to the troubleshooting page on their website.

regards,
al

Hey Al, mine is pale gold color not blue.Thanks for the link.

check again.
you can pull the wire off the dist that goes to the points. ground it and remove it while checking for spark. you have to have a good ground from the dist thru the engine to the body and back to the permadoom. the points gap is not critical but they do need to open and close.
the wire from the dist to the CD gets brittle and cracks. make sure it is good. you might consider bypassing it just for a test

the coil can also be bad. you can ohm the coil.

if you have speaker wire for a ground wire, you may be in a LOT of trouble.
some people should not be allowed to own a porsche.

IME, "technical support" from the nice folks at Permadoom consists of them telling you it's YOUR fault. BTDT. Once you've determined you have voltage, a good ground, and a point signal, find a Bosch BHKZ core and send it to Lauren or Ingo for reconditioning.

The Cap'n

loren @ Systems Consulting...Automotive Electronics

Stellar advice.

The only other good option IMHO, would be an MSD & MSD matching coil. I've had excellent luck with those for many many years.