Lumenition Optronic & Coil connections.

Graham260z

Club Member
I bought my 1974 260z 2+2 partly in boxes a couple of years ago and have been slowly resurrecting it since, it probably hasn't been started until this week for 35 years. I decided to fit Lumenition electronic ignition and Lumenition coil, from Mr F, the problem I have is that there wasn't a coil fitted to the car so initially I was unsure how it should be wired. Scouring this forum I found that the lilac wire from the module should go to -ve on coil and red to +ve on coil. The long black/white, with black cover, to +ve on coil and short black to -ve on coil and as I don't have a resistor to get the tachometer to work I should join the short black/white and green/white together. Having done all the above the car will not start. Should the two wires that are joined together be joined and connected to the coil, if so which side? I also seem to have a couple of wires coming out of the loom at that point not connected to anything, a long green wire and a long blue wire with black cover and a bullet type female connector. I have managed to get the car to start briefly by taking a direct feed from the battery to the +ve side of the coil but I'm concerned I may burn the coil out, as soon as I remove this lead the car stops. I'm not the sharpest when it comes to car electrics but I know some of you are, any advice as to where I am going wrong would be much appreciated.
 

toopy

Club Member
the two wires you joined together in lieu of the ballast resistor, i believe then go to +ve on the coil, cant remember which one is the live feed tho, i think its the green/white and the black/white connects to the coil
 

Jimbo

1978 260z in yellow
Club Member
you should have had instructions that came with the kit. i fitted the same kit on my 260.
one big problem i did have is the dizzy WILL NOT BE IN THE SAME PLACE timing wise when you put the dizzy back on the car.
you will need to pull all of the spark plugs and get a timing light on no one lead, crank it over and set the timing as close as you can.
then when you put all the plugs back in it should fire up so you can then set the timing up.
when i removed the dizzy and fitted the kit and then replaced my dizzy in exactly the same place i was actually 30 odd degrees out because of the lumintion kit
 

Graham260z

Club Member
the two wires you joined together in lieu of the ballast resistor, i believe then go to +ve on the coil, cant remember which one is the live feed tho, i think its the green/white and the black/white connects to the coil
Thanks for your reply toopy, so if I understand correctly if I join the short black/white and green/white and take a wire from the joined pair I put on the coil +ve along with the long black/white wire. I don't understand the logic of that but as I said I'm not the sharpest with car electrics. Thanks again for your help.
 

Graham260z

Club Member
you should have had instructions that came with the kit. i fitted the same kit on my 260.
one big problem i did have is the dizzy WILL NOT BE IN THE SAME PLACE timing wise when you put the dizzy back on the car.
you will need to pull all of the spark plugs and get a timing light on no one lead, crank it over and set the timing as close as you can.
then when you put all the plugs back in it should fire up so you can then set the timing up.
when i removed the dizzy and fitted the kit and then replaced my dizzy in exactly the same place i was actually 30 odd degrees out because of the lumintion kit
Thanks Jimbo, your quite right I found out the hard way, by putting the dizzy in exactly the same place the best I could get was 6 degrees btdc before the adjustment was up against the stops. Sorted that but this wiring has me seriously head scratching. Thanks for taking the time to post, much appreciated.
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
There aren't two black/white wires, there's a black/white wire and a shorter black/yellow wire.

Black/yellow goes to coil +, black/white joins green/white.

This is mine with 280zx dizzy. Green white joins black white on one ballast resistor terminal and also on same terminal red feed to dizzy electronic module.

DSC_0045.jpeg
 

Graham260z

Club Member
the two wires you joined together in lieu of the ballast resistor, i believe then go to +ve on the coil, cant remember which one is the live feed tho, i think its the green/white and the black/white connects to the coil
Toopy you're a star n spot on, I've just been back and followed your instruction and the beast fired up immediately, believe me it was such a relief after so much head scratching. Thanks very much for your help. Cheers, Graham
 

Graham260z

Club Member
There aren't two black/white wires, there's a black/white wire and a shorter black/yellow wire.

Black/yellow goes to coil +, black/white joins green/white.

This is mine with 280zx dizzy. Green white joins black white on one ballast resistor terminal and also on same terminal red feed to dizzy electronic module.

View attachment 30342
Thanks Jonbills, just got back from the garage having followed Toopys instructions and the car burst into life, it was a great moment can't wait to drive it now! Thanks for taking the trouble to reply its much appreciated.
 

Seikoking

Well-Known Forum User
Apologies for the old thread resurrection, but I have been experiencing the same issues with a non functioning tacho so thought it might be a sensible place to post.

I found the following on eBay and in the item description mentions a fix if the tacho doesn't work when the electronic ignition is fitted. My question is...has anyone tried the fix and was it successful?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datsun-2...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Is that a 280zx distributor for £350? :eek:
Many have 280zx dizzy and the tacho works fine without soldering resistors to the module and that stuff.
Do you have this kit or the loony mission?
 

Seikoking

Well-Known Forum User
My car has what I believe to be an aftermarket 280zx type setup. The module is a clone of the e12-80 I think but was on the car when I bought it.

I’d love to have the tach working properly.

What do you mean by the loony mission?
 

johnymd

Club Member
The inductive loop tacho's just sense current flow as the coil is fired by the distributor. The tacho loop is in series with the + feed to the coil as in lots of cars of this era. The points or electronic ignition both still fire the coil by earthing the - side of the coil so will not have ant effect on the tacho. It will continue to work as it did before as long as you link the 2 wires for the ballast resistor together. If you follow the Haynes manual diagram you will see how it is all wired and why you must complete the circuit after removing the resistor. If you don't complete this circuit then the tacho will not work but the car will still run.
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Yes Lumenition [emoji4]
So what's the problem with your tacho? Not working at all? First thing to check is that the wiring is right at the coil area - the feed comes out to go through the ballast resistor, back into the loom, through the tacho and back out to the coil. So when you go to 280zx dizzy you can remove the ballast resistor but that gives you two terminals that can reach the coil and will drive the coil fine but one of them is before the tacho so if you use it you'll get no tacho movement.
And both wires are similar colours esp. If they're dirty.
The colours are black/white and green/white I think. But can't remember which is which. There are definitely other threads on the topic!
 
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