Expert: Ben Deutschman - 12/17/2010

Question
i have a 74 dart swinger 225, was washing the engine, died , no fire from coil , wht is that small switch below the module that has a red thing coming out if you stick a hard wire in it it is spring loaded, is this some sort o GFI?

Answer
It sounds like what you are looking at is the Voltage Regulator on the Firewall, which should not be affecting the starting, or running of the Engine with a well charged Battery.

The 1974 model Slant-Sixes still used Points in the Distributor, and when you soaked down the Engine with water, some probably found its way into the Distributor, shorting out the Points, possibly blowing the Condenser. I would try cleaning and drying everything inside the Distributor, replacing the Condenser, and rechecking the Point Gap, which is set between .017 to .020, resulting in a Dwell of 42 Degrees at idle, with the Vacuum Advance Line disconnected and temporarily plugged off during the setting of the Points and Dwell.