Newbie needs help with wiring. Won't send 'spark' from coil to dizzy?

[dawerks]

Hello gents!  I am a wiring idiot.  I bought a 73 Cuda that 'was running' (I have not heard it run).  It will not send spark from coil to the dizzy (I held the coil wire to ground and nothing).

Below are some pictures of what I have (318, with I think MSD coil and an aftermarket distributor and no points, but I couldn't find any other 'magic' boxes?).   The white (ballast? resistor) was replaced.

The other 'weird' thing is that when there is power to the coil (+), it gets power to the (-), is that right??  I thought the Distributor sent the signal via the neg. term on the coil? 

Some pictures;
Overall

Coil wiring

Dizzy wiring


Even more questions if I have not been annoying enough
1) What are the name of the parts along the firewall?  (The wiring from the dizzy goes to the 'thing' left of the coil, then there's 'something' to the right of the coil, then the white ballast, then?

2) How can I set it up just to fire the coil as simply as possible? Can I run a power wire from the battery to the + side?  What about the - side?  There are two wires coming out of the dizzy (orange and black in the pic) can I tie them together and put them to the - side?

Please help!!

[Bullitt-]

 follow this picture



OR




Left to right ECU, coil, voltage regulator (you have 2) then the white ballast resistor

You can jump to the input side of the ballast from the battery for +power. Your right that the signal is switched on the -negative side by the ECU but the two wires from the distributor(orange, black) have to be connected like they are to send the signal to to the ECU. 

[torredcuda]

Holy rats nest of wiring!  Left to right- ECU ( electronic control unit), coil, voltage regulator, another voltage regulator, ballast resistor.

[torredcuda]

Get a good wiring diagram like this-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1973-73-Plymouth-Barracuda-11X17-Color-Wiring-Diagram-/370823883831?nma=true&si=0Wx%252BoIF7admGPAn1o6x%252FWVRygnE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[BIGSHCLUNK]

2 regs are better than one???         Follow the diagram, get rid of that "extra" nonsense

[dawerks]

Thank you!  That's AFTER cleaning it up for half hour, there were wires looped on themselves (in black tape) that went no where   There is a burned up clip as well but I will deal with that after this mess.

So the 'ECU' is the control unit (I was looking for some large orange box!).  My wires go from the dizzy to it, but NO wires come out of it to the coil!  Should it be a green wire that goes to the - side?  (As in the diagram).

There are 4 wires currently hooked up to my coil.  Two of them  have 'switched' power (they have little square plugs before the round clip) that were on +.  The Voltage Reg. wire comes from the little round (condensor?) to -  and one more green wire that goes into the car (tach wire?) also on -

How it should be;

[dawerks]

How it IS!  Too bad my car is half hour away 

[dawerks]

And it looks like my control unit only has 4 wires instead of 5??  What do I do about that?

[Bullitt-]

So the 'ECU' is the control unit (I was looking for some large orange box!).  My wires go from the dizzy to it, but NO wires come out of it to the coil!  Should it be a green wire that goes to the - side?  (As in the diagram).

There are 4 wires currently hooked up to my coil.  Two of them  have 'switched' power (they have little square plugs before the round clip) that were on +.  The Voltage Reg. wire comes from the little round (condensor?) to -  and one more green wire that goes into the car (tach wire?) also on -

How it should be;

  Someone may have tried to wire around the ECU, (maybe it's bad, you can get a new generic one for about $35.) Only one Grey wire to the -side for the tach, I would disconnect the tach wire for now as a bad tach can shut things down, also take off the condenser(not OE just a noise suppression gizmo)a bad one can create issues.
The original coil wires have the square insulators, one for each terminal, Black/yellow trace for the -side, Brown for the +side.  Why there is a green wire I have no idea, looks like the -wire for the ballast or voltage reg.  The only thing in common with the voltage regulator & alternator is the same Blue wire sends +power from the ignition switch.

[Chryco Psycho]

No problem the 5th wire is the low voltage green wire off the ballast , this is not required with most new ecus as the resitster has been moved inside the ECU
There is a black wire with a yellow tracer that goes to coil neg

[Bullitt-]

And it looks like my control unit only has 4 wires instead of 5??  What do I do about that?

The original setup used the 5-wire but a 4-wire ECU will plug in & work.

[dawerks]

Cool!  I think I have it sorted out in my brain!  Thank you guys

What wire should I use off my current ECU to the - (the fat green wire? in my pictures above).  The other wires go to the dizzy and one wire (blue-green) should go to ballast.

But first I will try the insulated wires (black/yellow to -) and brown for + before I try messing with it further

I will get a new ECU ('just in case') but parts take forever to find/deliver in Canada, I hope it's not broken.  The rest of the wires will be unhooked.

[Chryco Psycho]

You can always grab a used ECU from a wreckers

[dawerks]

STARTED FIRST KICK!!

Thank you thank you thank you!  I will share a picture of my car with you.  The cool thing is, I bought some new Charger rims and put them on.  Perfect fit!  What do you think? I am happy considering how little they cost and I had new 17" tires about.

[Bullitt-]

    Looks Bad Ars      What was the ultimate problem?