Just like the title says...can the distributor be wired to run without ECM?

The only thing the carbed ECM does is control the carb not dist. If you pitched the stock carb you can pitch the ECM. Jim

should be no rewireing nessessary.
i have done it.

Thanks for the quick replies! Maybe some more details are in order.I have set up to run propane, so stock carb is long gone. I no longer have a wiring harness, much less an ECM...lol. Can I bypass all of the wiring and wire up the distributor? If so, which wire goes where? Thanks in advance for all your help!

David

apparently I have got to drop back 10 and punt....guess I can answer my own question with a multimeter....since all I got were two responses...lol

Ok....thanks....I guess I am on my own....

Diagrams are available at Ack's FAQ

yeah....been looking at wiring diagrams.It looks like distributor has to be wired thru alternator and ignition switch in order to match factory and run. In short, it doesnt look like it can be wired up without replacing the wiring harness. I just figured that maybe someone on this forum has wired up a dist. without using factory wiring harness. I guess I screwed up takin all that out of my sammy so early....

I'm going from memory here, just like every one else who didn't reply, I'm too lazy to go look at the diagram - there's a +12V switched feed to the ignition coil, one wire from the coil negative to the ignition module in the distributor and one more from the ignition module to ground.  There's probably a noise surpressor to be hooked up - I seem to remember one being taped into the harness.

Yes the alternator connects somewhere in there - but that's a separate charge control circuit and not a part of the ignition circuit - and of course the ignition switch is linked in so you can switch things on & off.

i'm using the wire harness, but this made me think about how this "electronic ignition " dist. works.
i had assumed the ignitor pack in the dist was powered thru the ign. switch as is the coil?
in my case this is a black/white wire.
the other(brown/white) from dist. goes to (-)term. on coil to trigger the coil?
mabe this will smoke something.
i thought about hotwiring my theory, but chickened out.

OK.

I really don't see why this has to be so difficult.

There's a black/white wire from the ignition switch to the coil positive and to the distributor (I forgot about this one), and a brown/white wire from the coil negative to the distributor and the distributor grounds through the block.  The noise surpressor connects from brown/white to chassis and there's a condenser from coil positive to ground.

Life is simple.

Thank you, Fordem.

That's the answer I was looking for. I was sure it was gonna be simple, I just really wasn't sure which wire went where. So, since I am not gonna have a radio in this buggy, a noise supressor is probably not needed. I will have to scrounge up a condensor, however.

So, from ignition switch to coil positive and black/white on distributor, and brown/white on distributor to coil negative, and condenser from coil positive to ground.

i will try it tomorrow afternoon provided it ain't rainin....

Thanks again,
David

I realize tomorrow took a while to get here, but....connect black/white wire from distributor to positive side of coil, brown wire from distributor to negative side of coil, 12v to positive side of coil, and engine will run without ECM.

Hooray!!

This will only work on early distributors...the ones with 2 wire connectors with generator and ignitor modules inside.

Thanks for all the help!!

Hillbilly Dave

Thanks for the update, glad to hear you got it sorted.