Re: Intermittent Spark
well with a normal multi meter you prolly won't get the correct voltage due to those not being able to read higher voltages. The correct meter to use is called a DVA meter they can test voltages all the way up to 600v and these types of meters are not cheap but they do make adapters for normal meters that are still pricey but not as expensive as the meter itself. Prolly not something you wanted to hear.
The problem you are haveing is exactly the same problem I had and it happened with 2 amplifiers.
Here is my story when I got the motor..
Sometimes it would fire sometimes it would not sometimes you would be tooling down the lake and it would shut off and not come back on or it would fire right up. I thought it was a fuel problem at first or someone did a link and sync wrong but neither was the case. I also thought it could be the carbs, fuel pump and I wanted to believe it was anything but the amplifier due to the price. Due to it running on points I wondered if it could run off of just a coil and some other parts and do it like an old car. I found this forum and some people have done it but could never really find the right way to do it but having worked on older cars alot I kinda knew how it should be done so I bought the parts, put em on and she fired right up and I have never looked back.
Now onto the good stuff. My points are fine so far so I am going to post what I did so you can try it if you like. Here is a parts list of what I bought...
Coil -- http://msdignition.com/coil_blaster_3_8222.htm
Ballast Resistor -- http://www.msdignition.com/media/images/8214.jpg the part number for this is 8214.
And just a condensor made for a 1967 Chrysler New Yorker and mounted it all up. I got it locally.
Look at my pictures here and I will narrate for you on how to do it.
This is the ballast resistor it is the white ceramic rectangle. I mounted it here cause I had an unused threaded hole and found a bolt and put it there and looks nice there also. From on your terminal strip where the red wire from the amplifier is going and take the red wire off and make a wire with a ring terminal on one end and a female spade terminal on the other end and make it long enough to goto the left side of the ballast resistor. After you have mounted the coil make another wire and put a ring terminal on one end and a female spade terminal on the other end and make it long enough to where you mount the + positive side of the coil.
Now your done with that onto step 2.
This is the condensor. Due to the mounting hole being way to small I used a pair of side cutters to make it slip onto the nut that the points are allready grounded to. Leave the Original ground on the block and just loosen the nut to put the condensor on there then re tighten. Take the wire comming out of it and add it to the other wire comming from the points that was originally connected to the amplifier and connect it along with another wire that is going to goto the - negative side of the coil, connect all three wires together either will a crimp cap like I have or a blue but connector or solder it and tape it good. What this does is it take the shock or arching after the points start to close and it will help take alot of strain off of the points. Some people have said that I have it to far away to do any good, but it does not mater how far away it is due to it just being a capacitor and current is current any way you look at it.
This is my coil. It is epoxy filled just like all boat coils are due to high vibration. I used a big hose clamp and cut it to size like in half and then some and had to cut it more on one side of the clamp to get the tightening screw out of the way of my hood so it would go back on. It is mounted in two empty holes used by the amplifier and just another empty one. It is in there nice and tight and does not move and I am thinking about putting a t-bolt style clamp in there but if this holds I prolly won't.
Anyways that is what I have and just to go over it again it goes in these steps some are not outlined in the picture narrative...
1. Remove Amplifier and Coil
2. Add wire from the key on 12 volts terminal on the terminal strip the rectangle where all the wires are screwed into and put that wire on your ballast resistor.
3. Run another wire from the Ballast Resistor to the + positive side of your coil.
4. Take wire from points that is not allready grounded the you wanna take the other wire comming out of the top. There are 2 black ones comming out of the timing plate one is allready grounded and the other went to your amplifier, you want that one. Put that wire, the wire comming out of the points and the wire from the - negative side of the coil and the wire comming out of the condensor and put all 3 of those together right at the condensor location with a but connector or a crimp cap or solder them.
Now make sure you have every thing good and solid as far as mounting goes and all connections are tight.
Now take out your spark plugs and gap them at .035 and put them back in.
Put all your wires back on and see if it fires and if you did everything right it should fire if it's got gas
.
If you have any questions about this or if I can explain it better or maybe more pics let me know.
I found out my problem with my hesistation and rough idle. I bought some new spark plug wires and one of them had a break in it, so I went to the boat store bought a new one and it runs like silk now and my top speed of 36mph is awesome so yea I am loving my ignition conversion so far.
Let me know what else you wanna know about that motor. I could prolly tell ya every thing about it. It's not really a hard motor to work on.
By the way if you buy a thermostat kit with a gasket it will prolly not fit, that is for the gasket the thermostat itself along with the cork gasket will fit. Do not buy the kit even from the dealer as it is listed wrong(atleast at my Johnson Evinrude dealer). Buy the thermostat parts separate and you will get better results. The fuel pump rebuild kit if you need one and you get one either from a local dealer or online it will also be wrong and not have everything in it you are going to need. The correct one you are going to need is for a 1990 and up fuel pump repair kit, that's what mine said it was for and had everything in it.
well with a normal multi meter you prolly won't get the correct voltage due to those not being able to read higher voltages. The correct meter to use is called a DVA meter they can test voltages all the way up to 600v and these types of meters are not cheap but they do make adapters for normal meters that are still pricey but not as expensive as the meter itself. Prolly not something you wanted to hear.
The problem you are haveing is exactly the same problem I had and it happened with 2 amplifiers.
Here is my story when I got the motor..
Sometimes it would fire sometimes it would not sometimes you would be tooling down the lake and it would shut off and not come back on or it would fire right up. I thought it was a fuel problem at first or someone did a link and sync wrong but neither was the case. I also thought it could be the carbs, fuel pump and I wanted to believe it was anything but the amplifier due to the price. Due to it running on points I wondered if it could run off of just a coil and some other parts and do it like an old car. I found this forum and some people have done it but could never really find the right way to do it but having worked on older cars alot I kinda knew how it should be done so I bought the parts, put em on and she fired right up and I have never looked back.
Now onto the good stuff. My points are fine so far so I am going to post what I did so you can try it if you like. Here is a parts list of what I bought...
Coil -- http://msdignition.com/coil_blaster_3_8222.htm
Ballast Resistor -- http://www.msdignition.com/media/images/8214.jpg the part number for this is 8214.
And just a condensor made for a 1967 Chrysler New Yorker and mounted it all up. I got it locally.
Look at my pictures here and I will narrate for you on how to do it.

This is the ballast resistor it is the white ceramic rectangle. I mounted it here cause I had an unused threaded hole and found a bolt and put it there and looks nice there also. From on your terminal strip where the red wire from the amplifier is going and take the red wire off and make a wire with a ring terminal on one end and a female spade terminal on the other end and make it long enough to goto the left side of the ballast resistor. After you have mounted the coil make another wire and put a ring terminal on one end and a female spade terminal on the other end and make it long enough to where you mount the + positive side of the coil.
Now your done with that onto step 2.

This is the condensor. Due to the mounting hole being way to small I used a pair of side cutters to make it slip onto the nut that the points are allready grounded to. Leave the Original ground on the block and just loosen the nut to put the condensor on there then re tighten. Take the wire comming out of it and add it to the other wire comming from the points that was originally connected to the amplifier and connect it along with another wire that is going to goto the - negative side of the coil, connect all three wires together either will a crimp cap like I have or a blue but connector or solder it and tape it good. What this does is it take the shock or arching after the points start to close and it will help take alot of strain off of the points. Some people have said that I have it to far away to do any good, but it does not mater how far away it is due to it just being a capacitor and current is current any way you look at it.

This is my coil. It is epoxy filled just like all boat coils are due to high vibration. I used a big hose clamp and cut it to size like in half and then some and had to cut it more on one side of the clamp to get the tightening screw out of the way of my hood so it would go back on. It is mounted in two empty holes used by the amplifier and just another empty one. It is in there nice and tight and does not move and I am thinking about putting a t-bolt style clamp in there but if this holds I prolly won't.
Anyways that is what I have and just to go over it again it goes in these steps some are not outlined in the picture narrative...
1. Remove Amplifier and Coil
2. Add wire from the key on 12 volts terminal on the terminal strip the rectangle where all the wires are screwed into and put that wire on your ballast resistor.
3. Run another wire from the Ballast Resistor to the + positive side of your coil.
4. Take wire from points that is not allready grounded the you wanna take the other wire comming out of the top. There are 2 black ones comming out of the timing plate one is allready grounded and the other went to your amplifier, you want that one. Put that wire, the wire comming out of the points and the wire from the - negative side of the coil and the wire comming out of the condensor and put all 3 of those together right at the condensor location with a but connector or a crimp cap or solder them.
Now make sure you have every thing good and solid as far as mounting goes and all connections are tight.
Now take out your spark plugs and gap them at .035 and put them back in.
Put all your wires back on and see if it fires and if you did everything right it should fire if it's got gas
If you have any questions about this or if I can explain it better or maybe more pics let me know.
I found out my problem with my hesistation and rough idle. I bought some new spark plug wires and one of them had a break in it, so I went to the boat store bought a new one and it runs like silk now and my top speed of 36mph is awesome so yea I am loving my ignition conversion so far.
Let me know what else you wanna know about that motor. I could prolly tell ya every thing about it. It's not really a hard motor to work on.
By the way if you buy a thermostat kit with a gasket it will prolly not fit, that is for the gasket the thermostat itself along with the cork gasket will fit. Do not buy the kit even from the dealer as it is listed wrong(atleast at my Johnson Evinrude dealer). Buy the thermostat parts separate and you will get better results. The fuel pump rebuild kit if you need one and you get one either from a local dealer or online it will also be wrong and not have everything in it you are going to need. The correct one you are going to need is for a 1990 and up fuel pump repair kit, that's what mine said it was for and had everything in it.