Crane ignition conversion

I have been having lots of trouble keeping my points clean and adjusted. I have driven about 250 miles since the last cleaning/adjustment and they are black and dirty again. no wonder my car hesitated and bogged down. I decided to purchase a Crane optical ignition(XR700) conversion. the installation seems pretty simple, but I want to make sure that I connected the unit correctly.

Has anyone done this conversion that can help?

I connected the red wire to the coil +. This should be the ignition + as well to power the unit. I then connected the black wire to ground. The yellow wire was connected to the clip coming out of the distributor. this should be the trigger wire from the now removed points. I checked the coil wire and had one hell of a spark jump the gap. I then reinstalled the dist cap and tried to start the car. It would not start. I removed the cap and now there is no spark. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jamie
71 911T targa http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jpnovak

I have the Crane HI-6HTRC box set up and do not have the XR-700 set up that you have so it is difficult to diagnose your deal. It has something to do with the red wire connection all bet because in my scematic it is connected after a ballast res.

I will drop by Crane Cams tomorrow ( 7 miles from my house) and bring a copy of this to see what they (the tech dept) have to say.

s

Some of these Aftermarket Capacitive Discharge boxes require a ballist resistor so you dont fry the magnetic/optical triggering unit within the distributor.

Call this Number (open 24-7) and tell them you bought a xr7000 crane system, and need to know what's wrong
Ph#1-800-345-4545
This is performance parts comp. JEGS

Luck......s

Jamie, I spoke with the tech department at CC today and because P does not run the lead from the dist. to the Neg(-) side of the coil but runs to the CDI unit there will be a problem. It seems that the CDI unit (250V) had a boxing Match with the crane box (400V) and It would give you a spectacular spark .......once.

Picture the 2 boxes ,in this case, as Rams butting heads (one 250# and one 400# hitting each other at the same speed ...ouch!)

You may want to talk to the same Tech that I did. He is up on the problem and will help you resolve the problem.

Tech line (904)258-6174 then 1 then 4208
this is his direct line and his name is steve.

good luck!

s

thanks for the advice. I will talk to Steve at Crane Cams. I thought I ordered the correct listing for my year 911. Hopefully there is a solution or its back to cleaning points for me.

Jamie
71 911T targa

I just spoke with the tech guys at Crane cams. He thinks that either their unit is bad or my Perma-tune is bad. I am going to be really upset if it fried my ignition. I will have to go home and test to find out which. I will let you know what happens.

Jamie

Steve,
Thanks for the diagrams. I've been sitting here wiring my distributor to the CDi box, and hopefully creating a potent cocktail.
I WILL be using a ballist resistor!!
Could you tell me what crane says about adjusting those two dials for RPMs?

Thanks a mill.................skip

Thanks for your help. I called Crane Cams on Friday and they were packing up for a long weekend. I took their suggestions and tested the unit. I hooked up a test light and got everything working out of the car. I then reinstalled it and it tested fine. NOw the car is running great and not missing as much. Good thing I took out those old points. They were just trashed.

I just hope that I will not have to adjust them anymore. The valve adjustment and new wires and the car sounds new. Thanks for your help.

Jamie

[JohnJL]

Originally Posted by jpnovak

Thanks for your help. I called Crane Cams on Friday and they were packing up for a long weekend. I took their suggestions and tested the unit. I hooked up a test light and got everything working out of the car. I then reinstalled it and it tested fine. NOw the car is running great and not missing as much. Good thing I took out those old points. They were just trashed.

I just hope that I will not have to adjust them anymore. The valve adjustment and new wires and the car sounds new. Thanks for your help.

Jamie

Hi JP,

I see you are about 13 year ahead of me..could you share what you figured out to get the crane optical trigger to work in your stock distributor and permatune? I am trying to get the crane optical trigger to work with my 6-pin CDI: Crane Cam Optical/Bosch CDI/Coil Wiring

[jpnovak]

Wow, John. Talk about a resurrection.

The Crane optical trigger will not work with the bosch 6-pin CDI. The optical trigger outputs a 12V square wave and the 6-pin CDI is expecting a low voltage signal from the magnetic pickup. The two are not compatible.

You have two choices. 1. Switch to a 3-pin CDI. or 2. Swap in an MSD or Crane Hi6. The white wire is the trigger signal and goes to the proper CDI input.

[JohnJL]

Re-resurrection here...If I am intent on using the 6-pin CDI, would it be right that I could replace the crane trigger in the distributor now with a magnetic trigger? I think the Pertronix but perhaps other triggers out there can fit in my distributor and put out a low voltage magnetic pickup signal?

[dicklague]

I have ha a Pertronix in my 73 011 for 8 years and it has been flawless. Highly recommended.

[JohnJL]

Originally Posted by dicklague

I have ha a Pertronix in my 73 011 for 8 years and it has been flawless. Highly recommended.

Which CDI unit do you have, 3 or 6-pin? Or are you also using the pertronix flamethrower box?

[zedsn]

I am using a MSD box, MSD coil and pertronix and like it very well.

[JohnJL]

Ok but my question doesnt relate to that. It related to use of a crane or other trigger for use with a stock 6-pin CDI.