Me Van

[fried onions]

I don't know where it is on a Farina, but when I had my MO I used a Runbaken Oilcoil which are much larger and made of glass. They never get hot and I think they're great, but the earlier design is upright only. I did have some coil trouble on the Humber and after a few duff autojumble buys (probably why they ended up at an autojumble) I finally acquired a good used Lucas one. As they are attached to the side of that particular engine the Oilcoil is unsuitable.

[mercrocker]

Horizontally, atop the generator....Probably fine in the days of Proper Lucas

[cros]

Horizontally, atop the generator....Probably fine in the days of Proper Lucas

Its odd the way people are about originality. I had a Wolsely 1500 a while back that had been previously converted to alternator. Apparently BMC produced a larger diameter bracket so the coil could be kept in this silly location, and the bloke who did the conversion told me he managed to find one after much searching.

[mercrocker]

Oddly, there wasn't a great deal of room to put the coil elsewhere thanks to Farinas inheriting the Austin steering and suspension set up. A friend of mine made up a very nice stained and varnished battery box to which he attached his coil in the more suitably upright conventional manner and then got slated by clubby dickheads who would much prefer to change a coil every 18 months after it got fried....

[fried onions]

Imagine if they had the rack and pinion steering. A brilliant opportunity totally missed.

[mercrocker]

Another example of Austin supremacy in the BMC order of things......The Farina was only a re-styled Cambridge whatever badge it wore. Many buyers were disappointed with their new cars (unless they had chopped in an earlier Austin). The steering arrangement was the one aspect of the car that I didn't like....

[PhilA]

Strange though, of all the places they could've put the coil on mine, it sits right up on the side of the cylinder head, in an 11 o'clock tilt, connections downward.

I'm tempted to move it now the battery isn't in the way, but probably won't. When is running it's kept moderately cool by the fan.

Phil

[mercrocker]

In theory, the coil mount on the A60 should have received fan assistance but in practice it was minimal, particularly in hot, slow moving traffic conditions.

[cros]

I was out in the van today and noticed a misfire. Everything looked in good order, points gap OK, but you couldn't bear your hand on the coil. When I got home I removed it from the silly place Vauxhall decided it should live, bolted to the engine block, and made up a bracket to hang it just behind the hooter where it should be a bit cooler.
I say bolted, but the company actually used slotted screws to attach it to the lugs; you can't actually get a screwdriver onto them because the coil is in the way.
Here's the silly thing after I removed the old coil

IMG_20210907_160109932.jpg (486.28 KiB) Viewed 1969 times

and here's the new location. The little box hanging on the side is an 18 quid 'points assist' transistor ignition module. When it breaks you swap the wires over and get home quick before today's rubbishy contacts melt.

IMG_20210907_195918220.jpg (428.59 KiB) Viewed 1969 times

[panhard65]

Mounting coils on the engine block doesn't make much sense to me either and I moved the one on the Dodge to the inner wing. It is just asking for trouble leaving them on the block.