Ignition coil voltage

My experience with the “blue strain relief” system is:

1) The ford e-coil (TFI Coil) on eBay runs just fine.  It’s a lot smaller than yours, and you can buy a (used) stock bracket that lets you mount it to the electronics mount bar on the bulkhead.

2) DON’T use a ballast resistor with the Ford TFI e-coil.  The problem will show itself at high RPM where your engine will misfire.  It will run fine until >4000 RPM.  I don’t know about whether your Accel coil will operate properly with the Duraspark system.

3) I switch main power to the Duraspark system via a relay, and I tap primary ignition power off the main connection at the solenoid input.  The Duraspark takes about 10-12 amps (guessing), but my setup takes that load off the ignition switch.  You can mount the relay to the electronics mount bar on the bulkhead as well.

4) DANGER:  If you forget and leave the key on for more than a couple minutes without the engine running, you will fry the Duraspark box, or the coil, or both….

(Suggestion:  Before you go too far with your configuration…. Check that the Duraspark connector wiring is is the same as the Blue strain relief boxes.  They are a lot more common.  I don’t know about the green units, but I do know the Blue and Red boxes have a different wiring configuration).

Good luck - mine has been a reliable system, now that I’ve learned to keep the key off when the engine is not running!

Rocky

PS….  You can bench test the system like that….  Just hook it up to your distributor, and give it a whirl. In the test configuration , both the Duraspark and distributor both need a good “chassis” connection to the negative connection to the battery.

I strongly urge you to call or email Jon Haas and tell him your story, and especially let him know what coil you are using with the Duraspark.

somewhere in my memory is the notion that the Duraspark will not play nice with such a large aftermarket coil

Larry

That coil looks like old technology to me. On the Pantera electronics site in the electronic ignition install menu the recommendations for coils are:

Good MSD p/n 8207

Better AEM p/n 30-2852

Best MSD p/n 8253

The electronic ignition sold by Jon Haas is designed to utilize the power of a high-performance aftermarket coil.

The Duraspark engine module was installed on, and designed for,  cars that used the standard $15 round black coil.

apples and oranges

Larry

Thank you all for the responses.

I haven't purchased the ignition kit, just the alternator kit.

I'm in Australia so the Duraspark isn't as common down here.

It sounds like a regular coil is best if this one fails.