Are ignition coils pretty much interchangeable/universal?

[Nicklouse10]

Hi,

I'd like to carry a cheapie spare coil in the boot of my car (1966 mustang with a 289 V8) as a spare.

Seeing as it's just a spare, I'd rather not pay top whack for something from MSD etc... so are 12V oil filled ignition coils pretty much interchangeable?

Why would a coil work on one engine but not another (presuming the engines were similar config/size)

for example, I've seen this coil listed for a RV8 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140866648675?ssPageName=...
any reason why this wouldn't work on my ford 289V8?

Cheers,

Nick

[paintman]

You could just make a random purchase as coils generally have a very wide application, but the simple answer is to buy a coil that is listed as being suitable for your vehicle spec.
That way you know when needed it will work.

[Steve H]

It's nothing to do with engine size, at that age it's down to whether it's points/ballast feed/electronic conversion etc. Within any one type, they will be about the same (variations in quality aside, cheap crap does exist!).

[Steve H]

It's nothing to do with engine size, at that age it's down to whether it's points/ballast feed/electronic conversion etc. Within any one type, they will be about the same (variations in quality aside, cheap crap does exist!).

[ch427]

as steve says coils differ if you have points or electronic, any idea what you have?

[paintman]

You show a link to a Rover V8 coil. What I can say is that that engine can be very sensitive to 'pattern' ignition parts & cheapie stuff is best avoided in critical areas.

[Nicklouse10]

hmmm, interesting. I think I may have opened a bit of a can of worms here, which is a great thing, as I'm still learning, and I know pretty much nothing about ignition coils!

I'm restoring the car and at the moment I'm in the process of rewiring it. I hope to be firing it up in the next month or so (I've just refitted the engine I rebuilt), it has a standard dizzy with mechanical points.

I have already bought an MSD box for it. Can I even run this with the standard mechanical points? or will I have to fit electronic ignition? (I don't mind doing this... my last mustang had it and it always fired up on the button)

here's the setup as I'm planning it at the moment...

• Dizzy is standard, with mechanical points (but I'm happy to replace those with electronic points if that halps my cause)
• coil is a bit uprated: see photo
• MSD box
• rest of the engine/electrical system is standard

Perhaps the question I should be asking is: Will my planned setup work? and in a pinch, could I substitute the coil I linked earlier in this thread with the ACCEL one in the photo below and still limp home?

[Steve H]

I'm not familiar with the MSD box but I assume it's some kind of trigger box in which case questions of points and coils will all depend on what it is specced to work with.

[ch427]

The points can be used to trigger the msd unit,most coils are compatable with it too. The msd unit takes control of the coil, there are lots of diagrams etc on the website.