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MG TD TF 1500 - lucas sport coil

Hi,
Fed up with bad leaky bad quality coils. So few years ago I decided to buy a Lucas sport, especially thinking of better manufacturing quality.
It worked till last week end, I had a failure. First it run on 3 cylinders. I changed the coil for the old one. Started lively, happy. But few km after it suddenly stopped once more. It appeared to be the rotor arm (black and probably original) wich was arcing with the shaft. There is a burnt spot inside, toward the shaft. And the car runs now with a brand new rotor arm (red). My conclusion is that fitting a high voltage coil can ruin other things on the high voltage circuit. When you visually check the ignition for spark, you often miss one because the wire is too far from ground. This one has to find its way through wire, inside coil or through the rotor arm.

So my question is there any risk to fit a lucas sport coil with a new dizzy head and a new red rotor arm or shall I put a normal coil ?

Thanks for advice.
Laurent.
LC Laurent31

I am running a “new” Lucas sports coil, has over 400 miles on it, about to torture it with a Boyer Bransden ignition.

It dies not get overly hot.

I have been told to open plugs up to 30 thou with the Sports Coil.

Good luck.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

The Sports coil is tuned for higher RPMs. A standard coil may be a better option for a stock car. But it shouldn't harm anything either. Higher voltage output will be harder on points and other components but if they are good quality then they should hold up.

I've had trouble with the replica Q12 coils and no longer run them. A standard 12V coil as found on MGA/B and others will work and fives a lot more options.
Steve Simmons

Pictures.The red one is the new one. The old one is the black.
See the dark spot opposite from the key, close to the spring strip.
Laurent.





LC Laurent31

I just chucked a new repop Q12 because it was junk. I’m on the hunt for a correct period Sport Coil for dads MK II restoration. In the meantime I put a new Lucas Sport coil on and the car now runs beautifully.

Bill Chasser
TD/c-8151
W A Chasser

There are 'red' rotor arms, rotor arms that look (darker) red colour and the Distributor Doctor Red Rotor Arms, all are different.

The Distributor Doctor Red Rotor Arms have DD on them, he sells them and Moss Europe do too.

Others sell 'red' rotor arms.

The Distributor Doctor doesn't sell my (Bosch) rotor arm so I can't personally say how good they are but I'd buy them and recommended never the less.

I have bought 'red' rotor arms from two different suppliers and they look to come from the same manufacturer to me but I'm not a manufacturing expert.

The 'red' rotor arms sold by these two suppliers (Simon BBC & Accuspark) are fine for the price but if I had a Lucas distributor I'd get my rotor arm from the Dissy Dr..

http://www.distributordoctor.com/red-rotor-arms.html

https://simonbbc.com/all-products/distributor-parts-spares/rotor-arms/

http://accuspark.co.uk/rotors.html
Nigel Atkins

ETA: look up Elta for "Lucas" sports coils in Europe at least.

Again the "Lucas" / Elta sports coils are fine but not as good as Lucas of pre-90s.

https://www.eltaeurope.com/classic-car-electrical-parts/
Nigel Atkins

Bill, I hope you returned it for credit and didn't actually throw it away. Especially because the issue will never get resolved if no one reports it to the suppliers. After verifying the failures on a test rig, I returned two Q12 coils to two different suppliers. Both said no one else had ever complained about them.

The rotors sold by Distributor Doctor, along with his points and condensers, are of the best quality. I use nothing else unless I'm in a real pinch.
Steve Simmons

Steve I did not as it was sourced over six years ago and had been sitting on my shelve waiting to be installed. The warranty had long since expired. Unfortunately that’s what happens when I buy and hoard parts long in advance of need for my restorations. I do this so the parts are on hand and I’m not constantly waiting for shipments. I’ve had to cull a lot of repop parts because they weren’t immediately fitted and I had no way of knowing until the time when they were put to use.

Bill Chasser
W A Chasser

This thread was discussed between 10/09/2021 and 12/09/2021

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