to get a 1.5 ohm coil or 3 ohm coil and remove ballast

[sujitroy]

I have a Mk1 Stag with a ballast resistor. I plan to buy a new coil.

Should I buy a 3 ohm coil and do away with the ballast resistor or buy a 1.5 ohm coil and keep the ballast?

I'm planning to buy a Pertronix flame thrower coil here in the USA.

I see some people have mentioned a flame thrower II but I see the resistance is 06 ohm. Can this one be used?

Sujit

[Guest]

The ballast is lower the voltage to 6 volts at the coil terminals. I have a flame thrower coil fitted and ballast resistor disconnected. I don’t remember the resistance of the coil. My car is MK2 so has the wire, which I’ve just tapped up. I also run pertronix, been fitted about 11 years.

[marshman]

Sujit,

That recent thread that mentioned the 0.6 Ohm coil was a bit misleading. Yes it was unballasted BUT as the pertronix website said it is a low resistance coil and "ideal for the Ignitor II ignition systems as well as other high performance ignition systems" As "stagjonno" pointed out 0.6 Ohm equates to 20A at 12V, so you will need an electronic ignition system with decent low tension side wiring to effectively drive it. A standard non ballasted coil is as you say around 3 Ohms. If you still have the original points/condenser then stick with a conventional 1.5 or 3.0 Ohm coil, depending on whether or not you intend keeping the ballast resistor.

Pertronix also list a flame thrower coil with 3 Ohm resistance - interestingly the sales speil is exactly the same as for the 0.6 Ohm coil - go figure!

So if you have some form of electronic ignition, and the manufacturer of that module says 0.6 Ohm coils are OK, then get one if you wish - people on here say they are OK. If you still have the original points then personally I would stick with the ballast and a 1.5 Ohm coil. As I am sure you know simply fitting a mega shiny new coil that can generate a zillion megavolts will not compensate for faults else where in the system (ignition or fuel), it may mask them for a while, or could actually seek out weakspots on the HT side and cause tracking (leakage of the HT) where there was none before - more HT volts = more electrical stress on the insulation! 25kV is ample to get a good spark on a 25 thou gap - I have never found any benefit on a standard engine of going for a higher voltage and opening out the spark plug gap - my car still has the original set up and always starts on the button and revs freely to the red line.

As always - your car, your choice.

Roger

[Guest]

Are you planning on buying the Petronix ignitor too? Think I miss read your post and thought you were. I fitted the 12volt flame thrower coil with the ignitor (ignitor 1 I think) 11 years ago (maybe a little longer) and haven’t regretted it. Never had to touch the ignition side since, well, other than fitting new leads.

[sujitroy]

I have Luminition. I was / am doing some experiments on my Stag . It is running rough after along run. I swapped out the Unipart coil with an old Lucas one. The car ran crappy after a short run. So planning to get a new coil. The Unipart coil and Lumenition came from some other car and I fitted them in 2006. The Lucas coil seems to have some no. stamped on the bottom along with a part no. It looks like a date code,
14 73. Could this be a 47 year old coil?

I have purchased a Pertronix Ignitor 1 for another Stag I plan to get on the road some day. I'm yet to get a coil for that.

Sujit

[Goldstar]

Aldon (I think is the parent co) specify the 0.6 ohm Flamethrower coil for their Ignitor II for the stag with a non-ballasted system. I’’ve said before that’’s the system I run and it works a treat, so far from being misleading, my post was entirely accurate.

by the way I got both in the US having checked with Aldon in the UK as it was about 60% of theUK
price.

[Guest]

I must be running the same as Goldstar. I bought my coil and ignitor form America via a website, retro spares? Can’t quite remember. The Dollar was around half the value of the pound so it was quite cheap and one of the best things I’ve done on my car. No more messing about with points ( although I do still carry a set with the old coil as spares, you never know!)

[marshman]

Aldon (I think is the parent co) specify the 0.6 ohm Flamethrower coil for their Ignitor II for the stag with a non-ballasted system. I’’ve said before that’’s the system I run and it works a treat, so far from being misleading, my post was entirely accurate.

by the way I got both in the US having checked with Aldon in the UK as it was about 60% of theUK
price.

Paul in my opinion you posts in the "What Ignition Coil" thread were misleading:

https://socforum.com/forum/forum/stag-owners-club/soc-forum/778231-what-ign-coil

You came in at post 4 saying you had a Flamethrower 2, later said you system was non-ballasted and the coil had a resistance of 0.6 Ohms - no mention or even hint at that stage that you had an Ignitor 2 ignition system.


post #4 you state:

I’ve got a flamethrower 2 which works very well

Post #10 you state:

I am running non ballasted

Post #19 you state:

If you have a ballasted system you need a coil rated at 1.5, non ballasted mine is 0.6. Most people run ballasted systems.

At no point did you state that you also has an Ignitor 2 ignition system, you hinted at it in you response to StagJonno who nicely queeried the 0.6 Ohm figure, but never explicitly stated it. OK for those who are familiar with the otions available, but not completely helpful to someone who needs to ask "What Coil". If you had said I have a Flamethrower 2 with a resistance of 0.6 Ohms which works well with my Ignitor 2 ignition system then that is more complete and helpful information.

The fact is a normal, standard ballasted coil has a resistance around 1.5 Ohms and a non-ballasted 3.0Ohm. You threw 0.6Ohms into the mix without qualifying it - hence my assertion that it was misleading - especially to someone reading the thread in isolation.

Roger

[StagJonno]

I have Luminition. I was / am doing some experiments on my Stag . It is running rough after along run. I swapped out the Unipart coil with an old Lucas one. The car ran crappy after a short run. So planning to get a new coil. The Unipart coil and Lumenition came from some other car and I fitted them in 2006. The Lucas coil seems to have some no. stamped on the bottom along with a part no. It looks like a date code,
14 73. Could this be a 47 year old coil?

I have purchased a Pertronix Ignitor 1 for another Stag I plan to get on the road some day. I'm yet to get a coil for that.

Sujit and go on to specify

Sujit, The standard Lumenition optical-type Lumenition - PMA50_installation.pdf instructions specifically state Not for Use on Low-Resistance coils and go on to specify "SUITABLE FOR coils or coil/ballast combinations of not less than 3 ohms".. Other Lumenition models are available, I believe. These may allow different coil resistances. Many who've had coil problems swear by the Bosch Red coil for ballasted systems. Bought one myself on these recommendations and will fit it soon, though don't have any problems of which I'm aware.

Jonno

Sorry to be late to this party - my browser didn't like the security status of this site

Lumenition - PMA50_installation.pdf

[marshman]

Good info Jonno, might have saved Sujit needlessly damaging his Lumenition module.

Roger

[Matt Cook]

I bought the matching pair, 12v Ignitor II coil and Ignitor II ignition module:

http://www.americanmotorfactors.com/contents/en-uk/p206_Triumph_Stag_70_to_77_Lucas_Distributor_35D8.html

and sold the luminition on ebay!

[flying farmer]

Lumenition do an uprated constant energy system that uses a 0.6ohm coil that varies dwell with rpm, but the two halves of the system must be matched.

[sujitroy]

Folks. Thx for all the input. I will go for the 3 ohm coil and do away with the ballast.

Sujit