TOPIC: Chrysler Rebuild

Purchased online from eBay a 1972 Chrysler charger 16' with a Chrysler 105hp motor. Over the course of a year I plan on a complete rebuild of the boat interior and transom. Lots of pictures. I've restored MANY glassics and woodies over the years but took a few years off. Now I'm getting back into the disease and hope to share some tips and get some tips. Follow along.
The "Sabre" name came from a Century that I restored a long time ago and got acquainted with this website.

Started today. For info this is my work area in my basement. Pretty cramped but I share it with three cars.
The morning was spent cleaning the rusted tight and corroded shifter. there was a mouse nest in there for 24 years and it was not moving. Witness marks where someone tried moving the shift button with a plyers. Other pics are of the interior after starting to gut it out. Surprising solid floor since Chrysler filled the entire bilge area with solid foam. Only rotted area was around the screws that held the seats in place.
I'll be jumping around subject matter, I get bored real easy and need to change the pace.

I'm thinking these things were built like tanks but I'd bet the foam has absorbed water. My Evinrude was saturated but still solid too.

I'm guessing if nothing else, you'll need to remove rear flooring a foot or so from transom forward to investigate & repair the visual damage. That will give you an honest idea if it's waterlogged.

Couple things today. Got the Clymer manual for the motor and best of all the PO who only lives 5 miles from me called and I got news of what I suspected all along. The transom did not rot out, the bilge plug was left in over winter and water froze and separated the transom from the hull. That gives me another avenue of approach. I plan on drilling a few core samples in the floor to see if its waterlogged or not and then do the drill test on the transom to see if it's dry or not. PO said it was covered but I wouldn't take that to the bank. Also there were three or four different variations of the 105hp motor concerning electronics. Tracing wires didn't make sense until I found out that the control box had been replaced at one time. Tomorrow I'll do a compression check and see if I can get a poop out of it. I don't have a gas tank for it or muffs so I'll spray some gas in the carbs to see what happens. Of course the impeller will be replaced either way.

\\Doing exploratory on the motor today. Compression is excellent, starter, solenoid, circuit breaker, interlock switch all working as they should. Dizzy is hard to see using mirror but it looks like the points are not lined up or burned.
Question for anyone, can the points be replaced without taking the dizzy off. I can see where someone already messed around in there. I don't think the timing is set correctly. mark on the dist does not coincide with anything on the flywheel. The dist. advance was hardened up with old grease so I freed that up with carb cleaner and WD. Also can the coil and CD unit be tested? It's a no spark issue.

Found a service manual for the motor that downloaded in a PDF. Looking at the timing marks it might be in the proper position, opins?
All the wiring checks out for continuity so I'm looking directly at the CD module/coil combo. Not the chepist part but I think I found a replacement/upgrade that replaces the part #. Prices jump from $460. to $395, same unit different dealers. Again, opinions??

No spark, eh? Well if the thing indeed does have points, they probably need a good cleaning and regapping.

I'd pull 'em out completely and then clean them with a whetstone or medium sandpaper, then polish with crocus cloth. You'd have to find the points gap spec in that manual.

If you'll post that link, I'll download the manual so I can follow along.

BTW have you checked out the CDI electronics ignition troubleshooting manual? It is posted online, with an irritating format. that's because they want you to spend $48 and buy the "unirritating" manual!

But the Chrysler section is right up front, so you don't have to thumb thru much of it. You'll need to find the applicable section for that older ignition.

One thing I was reading about on a different boating forum, is that if the distributor is a points module, you could adapt any type of CD-ignition to it, or even convert all the way back to points-and-battery operation. You'd need a ballast resistor if you use a coil without internal ballast. Also add a condenser to the points, if converting back to standard ignition.

They had a warning not to use an automotive, oil-filled coil. But isn't that what the old Inlines ran, with the dual-coil setup? Seems to me they were glorified car coils. I never heard of one of those blowing up, and I know there's been plenty of Mercury Dudes who have replaced one of those bad coils with a car coil!

Before spending HUGE dollars on the OE Chrysler replacement stuff, you can replace that with a Chrysler automotive CD power pack. These were commonly used on 70's Chrysler products. A lot cheaper than the Outboard ignition parts.

Any points setup can be made to work with the Chrysler box or aftermarket boxes such as the MSD 6A, which is about $250. But would be Light Years ahead of the 70's Chrysler outboard technology, and far more reliable.

I also found an article at a hot-rodding site about using the Ford TFI ignition module to fire a points system. These can be found Dirt Cheap on eBay, BTW.

This is a good read:

www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/adding-cdi-to-points-ignition.1253424/

Here's the writeup on the TFI ignition module:

www.49ccscoot.com/manuals/FORD%20TFI%20electronic%20ignition.pdf

This one has a ton of good info that I'm sure you'll be highly interested in:

www.smokstak.com/forum/threads/1969-chrysler-75-hp-outboard-ignition-coversion.52047/

Anyway, I'd seriously some sort of conversion, before laying down Big Buck$ for the outboard ignition parts.

Well, hope that helps. Let us know what you run into next!................ed

Found some good info on the Chrysler CDI box; how it was used, part numbers, etc etc.

www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/mopar-electronic-ignition-ecms-which-to-consider-and-what-to-avoid.296065/

www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/ignition-modules/product-line/standard-motor-ignition-modules/replaces-oem-part-number-application/chrysler-4111850

You can get that LX-101 box cheap on eBay, and Rockauto carries versions of it, too.

This article has a good description toward the end of the pin-out of the LX-101 4-pin module:

www.hemmings.com/stories/electronic-ignition-swaps/

Thank you! Just getting into it a little deeper this coming week and not pulling the trigger (little play on words) yet. I did download a sheet on testing the CD so I'll do that today. Looking under the dash last night and the wiring was a mess, dirty, corroded and lot of twisted wires wrapped around connections, ign key studs etc. That all needs to be addressed before I go down a rabbit hole. Make sure it's not just a bad contact situation. Pardon the neophyte question but if I run a test spark plug directly from the coil secondary I would get a spark, maybe just one initial? If no spark off the coil before it goes to the dizzy than it would tell me the CD is bad? If I get a spark off the coil but not the dist. that narrows the problem to the distributor? Just shooting blanks here.
Leave it to some engineer to hang the dist. upside down
www.manualslib.com/products/Chrysler-105-H-P-3964513.html
www.outboardignition.com/forcesearch.asp?cval=3&hval=23&val=6

Another step forward. Now I can concentrate on the motor without busting my arse on a stepladder getting in and out of the hull. That little room is hopefully where the magic happens.

Took a day break from spark diagnosis and did other things. replaced terminal ends on ign. switch. Took a look at why the trim/tilt wasn't working. Pulled the pump, pistons are all sealed and working but the pump motor is ka-put. Looking for another motor and found one on eBay that might fit, contacted seller for measurements. also looking at a local used outboard friend to see if he would have something.
I did turn the motor over again just for giggles, still no spark, not getting anything from the coil to the dist.
If I install a new CD and get spark the motor should run even if the stator is bad right? would be running off battery power.

Yeah, that Magnapower system is self-contained. Long as it has power, it'll run. Of course, when the battery goes flat, so does the ignition! The stator on these serves only as a charging winding, such as did the older Mercs with distributors (or magnetos with charging system, for that matter).

Merc didn't go to the ADI (Alternator Driven Ignition) system on their big outboards until around '79.

Thanks again, each day I learn and confirm. Since I only paid $108 for the boat, motor, trailer I can spend some $ on parts but NO PARTS CANON. That's why I want to cover bases with experts like you.

Cheep! Cheep!