Rear seat panel BJ7 & ignition coil help

Hi! I just purchased a '63 BJ7 in the beginning of summer and have been trying to get it sorted. This forum has helped me so much and I want to thank each and every one of you for the time you put into posting here. It has been a huge help. I have a couple issues I was hoping I could receive input on. First is the rear seat back rest that is missing from my car. Any idea where to locate one? I found one on ebay but I don't think it would work for a BJ7. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Second, I replaced the distributor with a Flamethrower unit and now I am replacing the original coil too. I have a black, red and white wire but the new coil only has two screw type connectors. How do I connect the wires to the new coil?
Thanks again for any help you can give. I look forward to more sorting this winter and to meet some other members in the Chicagoland area soon!

Hey CP, If you can check a wiring schmatic i think you will find that the white wire is actually a "ground wire". this was an anti theft feature where by this wire is run all the way back to the main disconnect kill switch back in the trunk. When you turn the switch off it grounds this white wire so that the ignition system will not operate. Many people disconnect this wire at one end or the other because it has been know to accidentally ground the ignition system when you didn't want it to. I know I eliminated it from my car many years ago. Dave

vette said:

Hey CP, If you can check a wiring schmatic i think you will find that the white wire is actually a "ground wire". this was an anti theft feature where by this wire is run all the way back to the main disconnect kill switch back in the trunk.

Click to expand...

Hi Dave,
The wire you are talking about is a white wire with a black tracer. Solid white wires are switched hot from the ignition switch. Solid white wires are not fused.

CP77BJ7 said:

Second, I replaced the distributor with a Flamethrower unit and now I am replacing the original coil too. I have a black, red and white wire but the new coil only has two screw type connectors. How do I connect the wires to the new coil?

Click to expand...

Where are these three wires coming from? If memory serves me, The distributor from Pertronix will have different wire colors depending on which polarity you bought. Has your BJ7 been converted to negative ground or is it still positive ground?

vette is right about the wire going to the shut=off switch,grounds ignition to prevent theft. That seat on e-bay is for a side=curtain car, she won't work. Our BJ7s have a single vertical panel. MK3s had a panel that folds in half.Don't think you should use grounding wire w/electronic ignition, could burn up module.

vette said:

Hey CP, If you can check a wiring schematic i think you will find that the white wire is actually a "ground wire". this was an anti theft feature where by this wire is run all the way back to the main disconnect kill switch back in the trunk. When you turn the switch off it grounds this white wire so that the ignition system will not operate. Many people disconnect this wire at one end or the other because it has been know to accidentally ground the ignition system when you didn't want it to. I know I eliminated it from my car many years ago. Dave

Click to expand...

No Vette the wire you are referring to was always White with black tracer.

Most commonly a plain white wire associated with the coil is switched battery power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBy7MRsMt9w

Maybe this link about the flamethrower dist. will help. It's for a 4 cylinder car but I am sure all the flamethrower wiring is the same. He goes over both pos. and neg. ground systems. I am sure you probably have a neg ground system though. The white wire is probably the one from the ignition switch which would go on the positive side.

I bought my BJ7 in the Midwest 11 years ago and it too was missing the rear seat back. The rear seat back is unique to the BJ7. It is a simple flat back piece of plywood about 1/2 inch thick. I bought mine from AH Spares. You could make one just as easy for dirt cheap and two hours of work. It did have another strip-piece of plywood surrounding the top and side (so three of the four sides) of the plywood about one inch in towards the center and rounded on the top corners. This was to add stiffness and ridigity. What color is your interrior? I may have a black vinyl cover laying around still. Note: There are two chrome hooks that slide down over rubber channels to hold it into place.

Randy in Wisconsin
60 BT7
63 BJ7 #20040

Thank you everyone for the help. I just got the new coil hooked up and now I am replacing the shocks with a set from World Wide. Randy in Wisc., I appreciate the help with the backrest as I was going to try and find a BJ8 thinking they would be the same. Do you know anywhere I could get dimensions or see a picture of the shape for the BJ7? As my BJ7 is a driver (and always will be) I do not need it to be concourse quality but I do want it to look nice. Thank you so much for your offer too as my interior is black and that would be a great help!! BTW, where in Wisc. are you? I travel between Lake Geneva and Hayward often. I also drive over the border to fill up the Healey in Wisc. as every station here has ethanol. Thanks again!

I live in Sturgeon Bay in Door Co. But I travel all over the state and the Midwest working. I will try to take a measurment for you. I could then make a simple sketch and email it to you. Any other questions on the BJ7 let me know. I will look for that upholstery piece. Over the last 10 years I was picking everybodys brain about specs and items on my BJ7. I'm more than willing to help the Healey community. MY car is 20,040.
Randy

there's one on ebay now

I just check and found the upholstery piece. Unfortunately it is for a roadster so it won't work. I did measure my seat back. The wood is covered in leather but the dimensions are as follows: length 38 3/8", width 12 3/4". There is a 3/4" x 1" strip of plywood running the entire perimeter. It has a 2' radius as it is rounded on the top two corners and a very small radius on the botton. The perimeter piece is 3/4" if you are looking at the edge of the piece. The 1" is the other dimension from the outside toward the center of the piece. It could probably be 3/4 and 3/4" and wouldn't make a difference. AH Spares has them for only $42 but the shipping is likely even more. Let me know if you need a sketch.

The two on Ebay are for a roadster and a BJ8. They will not work on a BJ7. nless I missed the third one for a BJ7.

I made mine myself, really quite easy. Do you have a new cover for it? You can use that as a pattern if you can't locate one in your area to get measurements from.

Contact me offline and I can send you some pictures of mine.

CP,
i just bought a BJ7 as well and in the process of sorting everything out. Mine has the rear seat panel which is currently not installed. You are more than welcome to come see it and take measurements. It is in rough shape so the inside structure can be seen too. I live in the NW burbs.

David