MTFCA Forum

Wiring help –getting direct DC power to coils bypassing ignition switch

Well men I need help. I am getting a 1918 Ford running again after decades of storage so a grandson can give the running car back to his 94 year old grandfather running. I need to do this quickly this week as the grandfather is ill. It has zero compression, no spark and a rusted carb. I am doing a ring and valve job and new carb - easy. The car has an old coil box with the switch on the coil box – switch appears to be rusted and broken. All suppliers are out of modern ignition switches and ammeters for a substitute. So my question is for a temporary fix to get the car running. How can I wire DC power to the coil box direct from the battery with a simple on and off toggle switch so I can get the car tested and running? I have removed the cover plate for the coil box switch Can I somehow manually connect power here? Looking at diagrams I see on the engine side of the fire wall there are connections for power from the battery and magneto to the coil box but I do not see how this power is interrupted by the ignition magneto battery switch and how I can bypass it? Sorry for being so dumb Ideally on the short term I just want to run power to the coils from the battery with the simple manually on off line switch

Bob Cascisa has made some great diagrams here: https://nebula.wsimg.com/bfee1cac0d0763 ... oworigin=1

They say they are for 1919-1927. They match my '16 because it has a '24 engine.

I don't know if a 1918 is that far off.

Jeff

On my 1922 Fendered chassis with a cowl I took 3 pole double throw toggle switch and wired battery voltage to one outer terminal, out put from the flywheel magneto to the other outer terminal and a wire from the center terminal to the lower left side of the coil box on the engine side of the firewall taped up the bare wires and taped the switch to the steering column. No other wiring needed if it is a true 1918, if it has a generator you may want to unhook the output wire and tape it off add a short wire to the generator and ground it to prevent damage to the generator. I would probably use a 12v battery as it's voltage will help the coils have better spark. Get-Er-Done you do not have a lot of time, hope you can make someones Gramdpa happy.

In addition after rereading your post, skip the 3 pole switch for now just wire a basic 2 pole single throw switch as you had ask about, it will work

Thank you ALL !!! from the wiring diagram page 5 it appears the blue wire running from the ignition switch to the coil box, I can bypass the non existent ignition switch and wire 12 volts ( suggested) direct to the battery Car has no generator nor starter Wire a on off toggle switch to the steering column for temporary starting ???

As George posted, to get DC to the 'hot' contact strip at the base of the coil box, remove the 'green' wire in photo from its terminal, and splice new hot wire to the green wire via a toggle switch from a small 12v battery, for battery ignition of the coil box. That way you are by-passing the rusted up switch contacts, be sure to clean the brass contacts in the box so the coils make good contact too.

My thank you to all the great replies. I stopped working on 1940-1950 cars 20 years ago when parts became so hard to find and I discovered Model T's They are so easy and fun to work on. I get great pleasure on hearing an engine start again after decades of not running !!!!