Lotus Europa Community

Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: mike alain on Thursday,February 25, 2021, 06:45:31 AM

Title: coil, 12volt?? need answer soon. s2 1969
Post by: mike alain on Thursday,February 25, 2021, 06:45:31 AM
Folks,  have to order coil in a few hours.  pls answer ONLY if you are really sure of being correct.  regular points system now with new side resistor on side of distributor,
my coil on side of car is fried, it was used with the 12volt to 9 volt resistor on inside fender,   can I order a 12 volt coil and just scrap the 12 to 9 volt resistor on inside fender.
looked on amazon and hard to find coil with resistor required( like stock)  so I want to go to 12 volt,  will it fry points???thanks  Mike.
Title: Re: coil, 12volt?? need answer soon. s2 1969
Post by: jbcollier on Thursday,February 25, 2021, 09:18:04 AM
Your post is a bit confusing.  There shouldn't be a resistor on the side of the distributor.

Originally they could come without an external ballast resistor (euro) or with an external ballast resistor (federal).  Sounds like you have an external ballast resistor on yours.

You can go either way.  The only advantage of using an external ballast resistor is if you have a "cold-start" bypass to boost ignition output while cranking in winter.  I would suggest this is unlikely to be a concern these days so you can delete the ballast resistor from the system.  Therefore you should get a coil with a primary resistance between 3 ohms and 5 ohms.  Buying a generic "12v coil" is a bit risky as the recommended primary resistance varies depending on the number of cylinders served.  A "12v" coil for as V8 may have a lower primary resistance than a "12v" coil for a 4 cylinder.

Good quality coils you can buy without worrying:  Bosch blue coil 00012, Lucas gold sports coil DLB105, PerTronix 40511 Flame-Thrower 3.0 ohm Coil.
Title: Re: coil, 12volt?? need answer soon. s2 1969
Post by: jbcollier on Thursday,February 25, 2021, 09:21:08 AM
The most common coil killer is leaving the ignition on without the engine running.  The coil heats up and eventually fires itself.  If you need to have the ignition on for a while, disconnect either the wire wire or the white/black wire.
Title: Re: coil, 12volt?? need answer soon. s2 1969
Post by: mike alain on Thursday,February 25, 2021, 11:07:07 AM
found the old coil that was in my lotus,  it has   4  yes  4 post on it marked    a  -b   -c  -d    maybe it good to use it is marked 12 volt with external resistor,   but which of the 4 posts  do I use,  I have never seen one like this,   sticker says   TRI SHOOL    which is in india. 
Title: Re: coil, 12volt?? need answer soon. s2 1969
Post by: jbcollier on Thursday,February 25, 2021, 01:11:23 PM
Not much comes up on goggle.  Any chance of a picture?