The 'E' Type Forum

Still working to trace an occasional misfire as detailed on another post and come across this. As you can see I've got electronic ignition fitted prior to my ownership, but does this old base plate earth wire still serve a purpose or is it now redundant? There is hardly anything left of it in places, just a few bare strands, and with my basic knowledge of electronic ignition I'm assuming its no longer relevant, but thought it was worth a check!

Some versions of electronic ignition, those with only two wires rely on their connection to the baseplate to be earthed. The wire you point to ensures that the baseplate has a good earth connection to the distributor body and hence ultimately the chassis connected side of the battery.

You appear to have a three wire electronic ignition unit, one wire of which I suspect is connected directly to earth, i.e. the engine or chassis. In that case the wire you point to is redundant but it would be good practice to keep it in case you ever refit conventional points in an emergency or change to a two wire electronic ignition.

From the photo I'd say the condition of your baseplate earth wire is quite average and serviceable so I'd just screw it down and carry on.

It looks like you have lumenition and have removed the chopper.
In this case from my experience the earth wire isn’t needed. I had this unit fitted for several years and was totally reliable.

Thanks for the advice guys