Howdy: I'm trying to do a near-concours restoration of my car (i.e. try to stick to concours standards but deviate when performance would suffer). Toward that goal I want to use a higher performance ignition coil that looks very similar to the original Lucas Sports Coil (i.e. bare metal body with a red ceramic top). I've found one, a Mallory, but it has a warning:
"Compatible with Mallory Unilite and MBI distributors. DO NOT USE with any Mallory Hyfire electronic ignition control or any other aftermarket high energy inductive or CD ignition system. For Unilite and magnetic breakerless ignitions."

Q's:
1) I have a Pertronix system. Would a Pertronix system fall within the warning above, ie would using this coil fry my ignition?

2) If so, any idea where I can find a bare metal body/red top coil that's a high performance coil, i.e. 40K+ volts?

Many thanks,
-Tom

Just a hunch, but doesn't Mallory also offer a "standard" coil for a points/condenser ignition? Is it not bare metal/red top?

I have a Mallory dual-point distributor, but I'm still using my Bosch "blue" coil.

Randy: Not sure about that, but mine is not a points/condenser system. Although a points/condenser coil should work with a Pertronix, I didn't see any coils fitting the color specs I need online and trust me I looked at several sites. Frustrating...

Thanks,
-Tom

Tom,

Not sure what components/pieces you have in your Pertronix "system", but if you only have a Pertronix module inside the distributor, that is not a System.

The Pertronix in-the-distributor module is simply a magnetically triggered set of electronic points. It simply replaces the points & condensor!

The module does automatically adjust the dwell, but it adds NO increased or decreased coil performance or other enhancements such as multi-spark.

If your coil needed a resistance wire or ballast resistor before, it still needs one. The module does not change anything except how and when the current/voltage to the coil is turned on and off.

Sorry, but I can't help you on sourcing a coil.

Tim

Tom,

The Pertronix Ignitor--I'm assuming you don't have an Ignitor II--requires a coil with 3 ohms resistance, per

http://www.pertronix.com/prod/ig/flame/coils/chart.aspx

If you can confirm the Mallory has 3 ohms resistance you should be OK. Also, I believe Pertronix would be considered a "magnetic breakerless" unit.

Hey thanks for the responses guys. Yes, what I meant was the under-the-cap Pertronix, not the entire system. So I should be good to go. I'd just never seen such a detailed disclaimer on a coil and didn't want to risk frying something through trial and error. Thanks again.
-Tom