Modern "Lucas" Coils

[111Robin]

'Distributor Doctor' who are usually good suppliers of Lucas Distributors, etc say their coils are:-

"Top quality 12 volt coil made by LUCAS in India with a screw in King Lead connection and 3 Ohms primary resistance. Proper shiny brown Bakelite tower, marked LUCAS & Positive & Negative symbols, with male threads , nuts & washers to accept either 2BA ring terminals or Lucas blades. It's a Sports coil equivalent to the old Lucas 45066 HA12, and 45058 SA12. Gold anodised finish, oil filled & complete with clamp as it's 55mm diameter, the same as the original Sports coils."
http://www.distributordoctor.com/ignition-coils.html



Distributor Doctor Warning:
"Please be aware that the marketplace is flooded with low grade reproduction copies of the original UK Lucas distributors which cost $7.50 in batches of 500. In most cases, neither the advance curves nor vacuum characteristics bear any relevance to the vehicles they are claimed to be suitable for. They are potentially very detrimental to the health, performance and longevity of your engine. We work only on 'pukka' UK made Lucas distributors and produce a top quality, accurate, long lasting distributor at a fair price."
http://www.distributordoctor.com/

Thanks. I see "genuine" Lucas sports coils for £25 on Ebay, I wonder if these are the knock off ones.

[mini_surfari]

I had a Lucas gold coil, the end exploded and all the oil came out.

Bosch blue on there now, but not been anywhere since to test it

[mk1coopers]

Another option is this,

https://classicalfa.com/ig022-3-pertron ... oil-3-ohm/

I’ve not had a problem with one of these yet, simple job to change the casing colour and add a period sticker to make it blend in

[mk1]

Modern Lucas coils are total shite.

I have had many fail on me with little of no use whatsoever. I do feel that the old ones were decent.

A good modern alternative that I have used on a few occasions now are the Remax coils available from Green Sparkplug amongst others.

I swapped to these a few years ago & have never had any issues, apart from when Adam drilled a hole through one

https://www.gsparkplug.com/catalogsearc ... remax+coil

[111Robin]

Modern Lucas coils are total shite.

I have had many fail on me with little of no use whatsoever. I do feel that the old ones were decent.

A good modern alternative that I have used on a few occasions now are the Remax coils available from Green Sparkplug amongst others.

I swapped to these a few years ago & have never had any issues, apart from when Adam drilled a hole through one

https://www.gsparkplug.com/catalogsearc ... remax+coil

Cheers, another decent option by the look of it.
Is a coil likely to fail intermittently ?. The issue I have only appears after quite a few miles and never replicates sitting in the garage running at normal temperature. Last time I broke down I pulled the king lead off the coil, checked I had a spark, put it back on and it fired instantly. No corrosion on the king lead terminal, new leads I made myself, but the coil is of unknown origin as it came with the car. Would forcing the coil to produce sufficient output to jump the air gap "fix" it temporarily ?. Ofcourse I'm assuming it's the coil at fault only because it worked after pulling the lead, could be a red herring. Plus it has electronic ignition, Aldon Ignitor I think, again of unknown provenance, could be this that's failing intermittently.

[mk1]

Yes, the symptoms you describe are a fried coil. When the coil is cold it works OK, but as it heats up it becomes increasingly unreliable. Give it a rest and it will work OK for a while again.

What you describe is exactly what I would expect from a duff coil.

M

[Peter Laidler]

I'm a big believer in the Distributor Doctors products, including his India-made coils on the basis that he has a good reputation to uphold. I haven't needed a replacement for ages but when I do, I'll get one from him - with his reputation attached to it. An opinion based solely on my dealings with him and his stuff in the past

Anyone else feel the same

[111Robin]

Yes, the symptoms you describe are a fried coil. When the coil is cold it works OK, but as it heats up it becomes increasingly unreliable. Give it a rest and it will work OK for a while again.

What you describe is exactly what I would expect from a duff coil.

M

When it starts to fail, it seems to be more gradual than a complete failure. I originally thought it was fuel starvation as it just started with a drop in power that you can still catch and bring the revs back up by dipping the clutch, take up the drive for a short distance, starts to die again, then keep repeating until it eventually won't take any throttle at all under load. So it definitely gets worse to the point that it just wont start eventually. Is this what you would expect with the coil ?. I was convinced it was lack of fuel, until I verified that the supply was fine. I sat for a couple of hours last time and it just wouldn't start. I would have thought the coil would have been at ambient temperature by that time.

[mk1]

I went through the EXACT same scenario last weekend in my Lotus 7. Adam had left the ignition on all day & cooked the coil. I was going to swap it, but when I tried it, the car started OK so I left it. Next time out the car did EXACTLY what you describe. I changed the coil & it's prefect again now. Well, for the moment anyway

[111Robin]

I went through the EXACT same scenario last weekend in my Lotus 7. Adam had left the ignition on all day & cooked the coil. I was going to swap it, but when I tried it, the car started OK so I left it. Next time out the car did EXACTLY what you describe. I changed the coil & it's prefect again now. Well, for the moment anyway

Perfect thanks Mark. "Lots Of Trouble" as they like to say

[mk1]

Lot's Of Trouble Usually Sortable.

[251 ENG]

We once had an historic rally car come in for a rolling road .
The issue turned out to be the coil
It had an original Lucas sports coil on it with the red end .

Dated 1958 !!!

[mk1]

Bloody unreliable Lucas parts.

[111Robin]

Nowadays you fit it at 12:00 and it fails at 19:58 (if you're lucky)

[Bitsilly]

I just buy Lucas stickers and stick em whatever is best!

[floormanager]

I'm a big believer in the Distributor Doctors products, including his India-made coils on the basis that he has a good reputation to uphold. I haven't needed a replacement for ages but when I do, I'll get one from him - with his reputation attached to it. An opinion based solely on my dealings with him and his stuff in the past

Anyone else feel the same

Yes, Martin knows his onions. I buy points, condensers from him and have had him rebuild a couple of dizzys. I had a misfire and suspected the condenser. I spoke with Martin, he said if it was faulty he'd replace it after 2 years. He was confident it was not faulty but would test it. Turned out not to be the condenser (the new points had closed up). Red face on my part

[AndyPen]

I visited Martin as he refurbed my S dizzy. Had a proper tour around and very impressed indeed. I'd trust his judgement on coils

[mab01uk]

There do seem to be low grade reproduction copies of the original UK Lucas coils on the market....but I assume Distributor Doctor (Martin) sells good reproduction copies (he states made in India) as he does now give a 3 Year warranty on them?
http://www.distributordoctor.com/ignition-coils.html

[mk1]

Martin's stuff is great, but personally I'd rather support a Bona Fide UK manufacturer than some Indian Sweatshop.

"Due to an increasing demand for high quality auto electrical components, a new brand of ignition coils has been launched - REMAX. These coils, manufactured in England, are superior in construction and offer better performance than traditional Lucas coils. In most circumstances the Lucas coils are perfectly satisfactory. However, if extra quality, performance and reliability is required, then a Remax coil is the way to go."

https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/ ... inside.pdf

[111Robin]

Quality aside, I would also rather support a UK manufacturer these days. The prices for the Remax coils are very close to those for the "made in India" Lucas ones which seems odd to me. I was expecting them to be in the order of twice the Lucas prices.