<VV> Aftermarket Coils Re: follow-up on bogging down, sputtering

[FrankCB]

Dennis,
     I agree that the stock coil should be good enough for the stock (unmodified) engine. Most of the aftermarket coils are lower resistance than the stock coil and therefore will TRY to flow higher-than-stock current but ONLY if they have a full 12 to 14 volts present at the positive terminal.  This higher current can cause significant voltage drop especially if the stock resistance wire is not eliminated.  Even if the resistance wire is bypassed, the higher current through the stock wire from the back of the car to the front, through the old ignition switch and returning back to the engine can cause significant voltage drop so that the voltage at the coil + terminal is much less than 12 volts.  The coil is really a transformer so it multiplies the voltage in the primary to make a much higher voltage in the secondary that ignites the combustion through the plugs.  But if the primary voltage at the coil + terminal is way below 12 volts (due to excessive drop) then it's possible the sparking voltage may actually be BELOW the normal STOCK sparking voltage from the stock coil.  So it's important to make sure you have the correct voltage at the coil when the engine is running no matter what coil you are using..
     Frank "sparky" Burkhard  



In a message dated 08/17/09 16:25:42 Eastern Daylight Time, dpleau at wavecable.com writes:
I went through three aftermarket coils in a short period of time.  One 
Pertronics and two Accel before I went back to the original.  All had the 
exact symptoms Ernie had.  That's why I suggested his problems was the coil. 
All three had the right resistance both before and after they started 
causing problems and they were hooked up properly. 

Dennis 

-----Original Message----- 
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org 
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of John O'Shea 
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 1:15 PM 
To: Virtual Vairs 
Subject: Re: <VV> follow-up on bogging down, sputtering 

Finding the "good quality aftermarket coil" may turn out to be just as much 
of a crapshoot as the stock types. 
I know of several Corvair folks who have installed the "high output" 
expensive aftermarket coil and they found out two things: 
1. On anything short of a serious race engine there's no improvement in 
performance. 
2. Reliability of the expensive aftermarket coils is equal to or worse than 
stock coils. 
BTW, an article in one of Bob Helt's books thoroughly debunks the urban myth 

that your stock (or near stock) Corvair engine 
will run better with a high output coil. 

Turn flame on here, but please spare the group anecdotal "evidence" and 
"facts".