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Ignition, coil recommendations?

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Sportsdoc

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Now that I have the clutch working and the ignition switch fixed, I'm trying to start the car. Initially the car fired a few times Saturday, but today, cannot get anything. No spark at the plugs.

I was originally planning anyway on replacing the coil and going with an electronic ignition. Any suggestions for brand/type?
 
If you are going electronic ignition, my suggestion is Pertronix. It fits inside the original distributor. If you are looking for something a bit fancier, do what I did, and get a Mallory Unilite.

As for coils, you can use a standard coil for either system. I would suggest getting an internally ballasted unit, so you don't have the ugly external ballast resistor cluttering up the engine bay.

Just my $.02
 
I am looking at the Mallory Unilite, but Moss lists it for $565. How simple or difficult is it to drill for the drive dog, and what does that involve?
 
I agree with the pentronix. Simple and it works. Coils are an ongoing issue, but for my money, Lucas sports coil. More spark.
 
Drilling for the drive dog is not a big deal. I actually shipped mine to a local machine shop, and let them do it, so it was straight. They shimmed it, drilled it and let me do the final install of the pin. Cost me about $10.

One thing to think about with the Unilite, is the cost of a replacment module. They run about the cost of a new Pertronix unit.
 
I was originally planning anyway on replacing the coil and going with an electronic ignition. Any suggestions for brand/type? """""""

I suggest getting the car running correctly with what you have first. Coils do not usually go bad......rarely do they just have "no spark".

You might run down voltages and see whats what....sounds like a wiring problem?
 
I have the Crane coil in mine. I was going to use the E coil they had. Cuz I liked the square-ish look to it, as I used the Crane ignition. I wound up using the canister Crane coil after all. It fit right in the stock holder. No problems since.
 
I just installed Pertronix LED switch to replace the points, with a Crane Fireball XR700 electronic ignition, and the stock (external ballast) coil. The Fireball unit itself handles advance, dwell etc. Discreetly mounted on inner fender. Picture taken with outer fender removed, but you can see the simplicity of the wiring.

09-06-07_1629.jpg


VERY simple wiring, plug and play in my case. Less expensive through other sources (eBay).

Search - XR700 and XR3000

The XR700 can easily be used with the stock coil, or any similar coil (Fireball, Lucas, no-name generic ballasted coil). The XR3000 can be used with high-powered 'sport' coils, *without* requiring the use of a resistor.

I would strongly agree with Jerry's comment, above. If you suspect your coil has gone bad, test and replace. If you're not getting any spark, have your points simply closed up? Probably better to get it running first, and then upgrade. My two centavos...
 
I see I am late on this, but did you ever solve your original problem - spark one minute, no spark the next? I had a very similar situation recently - Bad Ignition Rotor. $2.19 -

And there seems to be a bunch of bad rotors out there.
 
Thanks for the reply....I have not yet solved the spark problem, but have not been home to work on it. Car fired up initially, then next day, I had no spark at all. Haven't checked points, etc., yet.

I'm still planning on converting to electronic ignition and replacing the coil regardless, but I would like to solve the initial problem.
 
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