Two replies in one!
Gerry asks:
>Scott, I have not heard you mention, but does your coil have an
>internal or an external ballast ?
The car has no external ballast (it's a '71, and near as I can tell
the 6V coil that requires an external ballast resistor didn't come
into use until some time in the late Seventies). The coil is a
Genuine Lucas Coil that has a sign on the bracket saying "Not for use
with external ballast resistors" in four or six languages.
Other than that, it's acting just exactly the way the Haynes manual
says a car will act if you put a ballast-required coil into a circuit
that does not have a ballast resistor in it. Hmmm...
William Woodruff asks:
> As another data point, why don't you pull a plug when
>the engine dies and see if you still get a spark? Or just
>pull a wire hold the engine block and touch your tounge to
>the lead.
Ha ha. Been there, done that (but not on this car). I learned the
Dance of Lucas once when I grabbed a plug wire with what I thought were
insulated pliers and then leaned onto the fender of the car. They tell
me I looked like one of those little puppets that have a plunger in the
bottom of the stand that's connected to strings that run through their
arms and legs...
>A hot coil would seem
>to indicate a very high resistance in the secondary circut.
That's what everyone points to. The problem is that the secondary circuit
is now brand-spanking-shiny-new all the way from the tip of the coil to
the gaps in the sparking pins. And as I say, the car runs real well till
it shuts off. Maybe I should just take it to the drag races. :-)
|