In a message dated 97-04-21, Bill Wood wrote:
<< To all those who have fitted a Lucus Sports Coil, what is involved in
fitting the +12 v wire to the coil? I fitted the Sports Coil in 1989
and just last week learned from this list that I am now running a
ballast in the wiring harness and in the coil! Surprisingly, the car
has run just great for all these years. >>
Bill:
There has been a lot of learning going on since this thread was first
started! The Lucas sports coil is rated, if I am not mistaken, at 40,000
volts output, compared to about 20,000 for the stock coil. With the ballast
resister, though, you are only getting approximately 20,000 volts, the same
as your stocker. Thus, the car runs as it always did, which was pretty good.
In other words, you are not getting the extra power you paid for! (I am only
guessing at the actual output voltage, but it will be considerably less than
the 40,000 volts).
If it runs OK, I wouldn't change anything (there is definately no harm being
done). However, if you would like to have the extra spark you paid for, just
add an additional wire, connecting the + lead of the coil to the white wire
at the fuse box, while leaving the wires that are already there in place.
Keep in mind that the spark plugs will need to be gapped for what ever
voltage you wind up actually using. The gap is wider for the higher voltage.
I guess this just goes to show that for normal street driving, things are not
as critical as we might think.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
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