Cleaned the points and tried to start her up. Possibly the first start in 30 years. Nope. Further investigation, no power to coil with key on. Ok, dig deeper.... ...hey? WTF is this? Worked on alot of Ford's and owned a good many too. Never noticed this before. It makes a relay like click when I push it. Trunk release? Nothing else happens. Looks factory. Anybody else have one of these? What's it for?
Possible seatbelt/ starter over- ride button. Never had a car that had one but I believe were only installed for 74 model year. Looks like you have a 72 so ? My 72 6 cyl does not have it.
Yes it's a seatbelt latch override, 1974 only. These models required belt to be latched before starter would engage. Was such outrage, US Gubmet allowed mfgrs to authorize dealers bypass the harness under front seat(opposite end of harness pictured). I believe feature was deleted before end of '74 model year, definitely prior to '75 models. More than you ever wanted to know.
The more you know. I can safely assume thats it's bypassed. It cranks with no one in the seat. Just doesn't have spark. I have a 72 Maverick, and now a newly acquired 74 Comet.
If there is power to coil, check both pos & neg sides. Power(12v) on both with points closed, you still have a points problem. If voltage is approx half on neg vs positive, points are doing their job(or could mean points are grounded out). In this scenario, replace condenser. No voltage on neg means coil is open. None on positive, loss of supply from ign switch/wiring.
I'll have to dig more later. It's snowing today. I did test the coil positive lead unhooked. So no volts from the switch. (Fuseable link, switch or something)Decided to run a jumper straight to the coil from batt positive, and still no spark. And the jumper wouldn't arc on the post either, no draw. So even if I had power, I've got problems throughout. I'll get the test light and meter out once the snow melts. I don't even know if the points are even making contact yet. I just slid some 300grit trough the gap to freshen it up and hoped for the best. I think the points are the same V8 to I6 so I've got a spare points and condenser I can throw at it. Might just give petronix a second chance. The great news is that wherever this was stored, was blessedly free of mice. So there is no nests, or signs of chewing anywhere.
Snow? It's 65* here, been out washing my Cobra(cruise tomorrow). I6 points are different. The '71-'73 1600 Pintos used same points as V8. I see my TKF list shows same points for one 6 cyl truck application, can't guarantee that to be accurate. .
Haven't been able to verify points in the TKF-8 Kit(discontinued by '75). Found TKF 15 & 20, both are 240 6 cyl kits with DP-3 points. Difference was resistor or std spark plugs.
