TR2/3/3A old style tr3 coil

[sp53]

Does anyone know a clever way to hook an old style a tr3 coil with the threaded center onto the carbon wirer?

 

[TR3driver]

I haven't tried it, but I'd guess you could use the original brass washer. Strip back the insulation, thread the core through the washer, then fold it over the edge of the washer and back around itself. Probably have to tie it in place with thread, since you can't solder it to the washer.

Might be better to just source some copper core wire, though. I've had trouble in the past with the carbon burning away at the contact points inside the distributor cap, leading to poor idle and misfire under load. TRF has the set on sale for $28 at the moment; or here's a seller on ebay for $2/foot
https://www.ebay.com/itm/7mm-Black-...967?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a18874e17

 

[Geo Hahn]

I have been able to obtain the CU wires locally from Carquest in a 'universal' set for an 8 cylinder engine. This was a few years ago but a friend recently did the same thing at Carquest -- now they have to order them rather than having them on the shelf.

The part number 3802 or 3802-1005 or EC-3802-1005 may help them find it (hard to tell from the box how much of the notation is the p/n.

 

[sp53]

Well after my last coil episode, I put on an old style 40Kcoil with metal wires and those plastic end pieces. Now a new problem occurred, the engine popped upon starting while out on test run and then started to miss. Well I changed out the coil, condenser, points, plugs, checked the floats all while on the road and nothing fixed it. Anyways, drove it home missing badly and changed the cap and that fixed it. Turned out the little plastic end pieces shorted or something. I cannot even get a resistance/ohm reading on them. I checked some other ones I had and they measure 7K. So what happened? Could the old coil of toasted them?
I remember buying un-made metal wirer kits as a kid and they just went straight on. Are those kits you mention Geo unmade up? Plus it sounds like if I want solid wirer I need to purchase it online. The metal wirer I have is the bumble bee stuff from Moss and I believe it will need the plastic ends also and if that is the case it might be best to stick to the carbon.

 

[TR3driver]

Yeah, sounds like your ends just broke. I doubt that was caused by the coil, though; more likely it was the other way around. Working into an open circuit like that puts extra stress on the coil, rotor, cap, etc.

In fact, a buddy had his brand-new rotor fail completely on the way home from VTR 2000 in Oregon. Rotor looked brand new, we never could really find the carbon track that had to go through the center of it, but replacing the rotor was what fixed the problem. When I checked the plug caps, one of them was completely open (and in fact fell apart when I tugged gently on the wire). I stripped back the end of the wire and attached it directly to the plug (by using the threaded sleeve as a nut), which got him the rest of the way home (some 700 miles).

Too soon to say how long they will last, but I've been trying some NGK caps that are normally sold for motorcycles. I figure that if they can survive the rigors of being exposed to the elements on a motorcycle, they should be able to handle the environment under a TR hood. I got ones with a 120 degree angle in them, to reduce the stress on the wires. Don't recall offhand where I got them or what the part number was, but these look like the same ones:

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/...NGK-Universal-Spark-Plug-Cap-120-Degree-Elbow

It would be kind of fun to grind off the NGK logo and paint on a Lucas, but I haven't bothered. Yet.