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MG MGB Technical - cheap ignition coils or expensive ones

Having been away from mgb's for a few years and recently
purchased another one i am interested to know what you guys think of the multitude of "reasonably priced " ignition coils on the market.
Are they anygood or is it worth paying a lot more.
ie £45 as oposed to £10 0R £15 .
Some of the cheaper ones purport to be genuine Lucas,
are they ? ?
What is your experience ?

Thanks
Ken
k proud

Ken,
You don't need to pay £45 for a coil (at least not for a MG) - just remember to carry a spare.
Roger W

Ken,
an ordinary coil will be fine but never buy cheap and think about where corners might have been cut on some of these packages including coils/spark plugs/rotor arms/ HT lead set/etc.

Lucas doesn't really exist now but Lucas labelled products seem fine now - provided they're not counterfeit copies of course

I'd be looking to pay £15-£20 for a coil, couple/few pounds more if you want the 'Sports' coil

if you fit a new coil you shouldn't need to carry a spare as they last for many, many years

some modern made parts can be very poor quality, see a recent-ish thread I put up in the Archives

condensers and points are not service change items so if the condenser is working leave it as they last decades, if you want change the points (rather than getting shot of the nasty blighters) then careful where you buy from as both can be poorly made, same as rotor arms - for quality supply Distributor Doctor - http://www.distributordoctor.com/

for excellent and proven HT leads set give these a phone call - Fast Lane Auto - http://www.performanceleads.co.uk/
Nigel Atkins

I'm not a stickler for originality so I've used Bosch sports coils on my MGs. They are the type that look like a transformer as opposed to the cylindrical type. One's been in the car for about 28 years & the other for about 15 years. I hope I haven't put a hex on them now.The price was about 16 - 20 pounds at the time 7 I don't think they're any dearer now. Barrie E
B Egerton

Standard coils are perfectly satisfactory if everything else in the system is in good working order, but buy from a reputable supplier. However you need to make sure you know what you need and get the right one for your ignition system, as the ballasting system can cause a lot of confusion.

Chrome bumper cars originally had an unballasted system and used a 12v, 3 ohm coil. Rubber bumper cars originally had a ballasted system and used a 6v, 1.5 ohm coil. But several vendors of after-market ignition systems say to convert ballasted to unballasted, although that may just be a way of them selling you one of their expensive coils as well. Other vendors of coils cause confusion by talking about 'internal' ballast, or simply getting the labelling wrong.

You need to work out whether your system is ballasted or not, then make sure the new coil matches it. A 12v coil on a ballasted system will give weak sparking, and vice-versa will overheat the coil and burn out the points.
Paul Hunt

Thanks for the info guys.
I have checked for a ballast system and is just standard . The old coil says on it "for non ballast" . Have checked on meter & is 3ohms . will prob go for middlle of road for price, maybe a sports rating .
Ken
k proud

Ken,
yeap always best to check and not assume the part or component fitted to your car is/was the original or correct type or that it is fitted or working fully correctly, check and cross reference the information you have – and do the same when ordering parts or components, check and cross reference the information particularly with suppliers catalogues
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 11/02/2014 and 12/02/2014

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