Question on Installing Mallory Unilite

BELLM · January 29, 2005, 10:55:15 PM

Acquired a car that has a Mallory Unilite and a Malory Promaster coil. Partially hooked up, friend that started project died several years ago and I cannot find any installation instructions. Help?

rooster · January 29, 2005, 11:15:11 PM

you might try here! http://go.mrgasket.com/Brands.aspx?BrandID=6&brandselection=10

enjenjo · January 29, 2005, 11:18:49 PM

Make sure you have the right coil, the number should end 440, the other one, number ending 323 I think, won't last.

BELLM · January 30, 2005, 12:50:36 AM

Thanks guys! Wow, what a wealth of information!!

I lucked out, have the 29440 coil.

Topsterguy · January 30, 2005, 12:56:51 AM

Quote from: "BELLM"Acquired a car that has a Mallory Unilite and a Malory Promaster coil. Partially hooked up, friend that started project died several years ago and I cannot find any installation instructions. Help?

Do you mean you just want to hook it up to the coil? If so I think the three wires from the dist are the same as my Comp s/s - gree, red, brown, the red goes to + the green goes to - the brown to ground. Not sure if this is what you're afetr tho. :?

enjenjo · January 30, 2005, 01:42:35 AM

Also, I don't know what car this is in, but you want two ballast resistors hooked in series on it. Trust me, this works. I have had mine hooked up this way for 14 years with no problems.

kb426 · January 30, 2005, 10:23:06 AM

With 2 resistors in series, how many volts do you supply to the unit?

enjenjo · January 30, 2005, 12:41:51 PM

Not many LOL Reading with a meter, I get about 4.5 volts, but by it's nature the resistance of a ballast resistor changes as it's used. It was reccommended to me by the man who owned Mallory at the time, about 16 years ago. I was skepical, but I tried it and it worked. I have told others about it, and it worked for them too. All the ones I have installed since then have been set up this way, and none of them have failed yet. I don't do this with just any electronic ignition, just a Mallory.

av8 · January 30, 2005, 02:31:43 PM

I want to emphasize something told me by the fellow who ran Mallory's hot-line department before their financial agony of a few years ago: Ground the distributor to THE ENGINE -- NOT THE CHASSIS. Dave told me that grounding to the body or chassis was far and away the major cause of UNILITE module failures, usually occurring after a few thousand miles of operation. He explained (and I hope I remember this correctly) that when the distributor is grounded to the body/chassis its electronics become part of the high-amperage starter circuit -- not a particularly good place for little transistors to hang out.

Hoping to help, not obfuscate . . .

Mike

Crosley.In.AZ · January 30, 2005, 02:38:05 PM

Seems like jerry over on the HAMB has said this same thing a few times.

ballast resistor & voltage is very important to the life the light module of the dizzzy

kb426 · January 30, 2005, 02:40:13 PM

I've heard of many unilite failures also. I never looked to see how the unit was grounded. Simple enough to rectify though. I wonder how many other brands this could apply to?

enjenjo · January 30, 2005, 03:05:16 PM

Just about all of them. If you don't have a good dedicated ground, the juice will find one somewhere.

CruZer · February 01, 2005, 09:20:32 AM

I had a Unilite in my'40 and I learned to carry jumper wires with me. When the engine got hot ,the engine woudn't start because of low spark voltage.Jump out the resistor and it would start. Don't run it for very long like this ,though.
I soon found out what's already been posted.Ground dissy to the engine and put a new module in and ..... all fixed. Ran the car for 5 years after that w/o a dissy problem.

rooster · February 01, 2005, 11:33:59 AM

Quote from: "CruZer"I had a Unilite in my'40 and I learned to carry jumper wires with me. When the engine got hot ,the engine woudn't start because of low spark voltage.Jump out the resistor and it would start. Don't run it for very long like this ,though.
I soon found out what's already been posted.Ground dissy to the engine and put a new module in and ..... all fixed. Ran the car for 5 years after that w/o a dissy problem.

This sounds to me that you have a layer shorted coil! Sometimes it only shows up when the coil gets hot! The coil will continue to work but not with the right energy in the spark! The Unilite is very particular to what kind of feild it is going to "make and brake" in its operation with the coil. The chip is supplied with 12 volts but the coil less for proper operation of high energy systems.

BELLM · February 01, 2005, 02:49:42 PM

This is in a 27T roadster, '57 SBC, 301. Coil & resistors mounted inside on firewall. My deceased friend apparently knew what he was doing, this explains the two resistors. Will check & make sure properly grounded.
Looking thru Summut catalog as research on this saw a Mallory Active Power Filter, plugs in line between the dizzy & the coil, is this worth the $33 or should I just buy a spare module to carry on trips?
Thanks guys!