Cap'n, and everybody else, a coil issue may well be emerging regarding the Accel round coils. Have heard of new ones having problems. From a correspondance with Andover Industries a year ago, the manufactureres of the Accel coils, there was a tentive plan by Accel to move production from Andover here in Indiana, to Taiwan. I haven't been able to contact my regular Andover contact, still trying, to find out if Accel really did move the production off-shore. Will still try, get answers. Have some sort of verification from the packaging, the Andover coils have a package with "Made in U.S.A." on the outside, ones I have seen in the last two months don't have any country of origin info on them, so I ASSUME those are Taiwan Accel stuff. Main thing to look for is oil in the coil wire tower, being pushed out of the coil, upwards, from heat. And, if the engine ahs any kind of performance problem, stick a different coil on it to confirm/deny the Accel coil is the problem. BuickStreet uses the Crane PS20/PS40 series roound coils, and they seem to be OK, plus, I know they are made at Andover, so they are American made, good quality stuff. Soon as I know, I'll get the info out as to good coils vs offshore/Mexico made junk. As you all know, I do not, under any conditions, recommend using an epoxy filled coil, oil filled is still the way to go, but finding a quality American made oil filled coil looks like it may get tough.
Im posted an e/mail to the fellow at Andover earlier today. he called me right after he got it, to tell me he had forwarded it to Accel, right to the owner's computer. Andover has regained the MSD Blaster III coil production, back from Pro-Bobbin in Mexico. The RED Blaster with the HEI terminal built into it will be golden once again. Same can no longer be said for the round Accel coils, 8140/8140C, and 8145/8145C. These coils went to Taiwan, two months ago, only ident is the box, DOES NOT have the "PROUDLY MADE IN THE U.S.A." logo on the front right lower part of the face of the box the coil comes in. If it doesn;'t have that U.S. A logo, it is a Taiwan Accel. I've heard of issues with the Accecls, starting just last week, and into ones I have sold this last two weeks, and I ain't happy. I'll have what we need dialed in latest early next week. Goal is to have coil numbers from any parts store, NAPA as the target easy to get coils, and I have a number I have to go measure either tomorrow if they are open, or Saturday. This musical cils crap ain't sitting well with me right now, I'll get to the bottom of it all, right quick.
OK, more coil info: Ident Accel round coils, Andover, USA made Accel 8140/8140C and 8145/8145C coils will have a segmented crimp to hold the cap to the coil body. This segmented crimp is done in sections, with a raised portion of the body between each crimp. these are pressure reliefs to allow pressure/oil that may get trapped in the seal of the top. These are the good Accel's. Taiwan made Accels have the crimp fully around the top of the coil, and should not be used. If you have, or have just purchased an Accel round coil, might want to identify it, so you will know what could possibly occur with it. NAPA coil info, NAPA IC12, has the same specs as the good Andover Accels had, made in USA, havent' confirmed yet, but poss Andover. I tested one of these for over 3 hours Saturday, no problems at all. It is now the default coil on my distributor machine. Ident printed on the coil is 27460, Made in USA. NAPA IC12SB is a lower cost value line NAPA coil, Mexico made, not advised to use, different specs than the USA made IC12. When I tested one of these on my machine, coil temp was excessive. MSD coils, Blaster II (8200), Blaster III (8223) are made at Andover, the 8223 production has just returned from Pro-Bobbin in Mexico, to Andover. OK to use. Blaster II (8202, 8203) still made by Pro-Bobbin in Mexico, aviod these coils. Crane PS20, PS40, Andover made. OK.
i've got a plain summit-brand coil. has the segmented crimp you spoke of above...i think they're only about 20 bucks, so is it a heckuva deal or just junk?
I have just three ignitions I recommend, one of my small body HEI's, because I'm partial to them, an MSD, or a digital Crane system. Holley, sorry, no thanks, have heard of too many problems with them. Sounds like the Summit coil is made at Andover, is there a sticker on the bottom of the coil with country of origin??
Good to hear, I figured the IC12 was a good coil. Time will tell. I looked at the Summit web site last night,no info as to specs of their low cost coil. I'd like to kbow what those specs are, between both small posts and between the small post and the coil wire termihnal, woth all wires disconnected from the coil. Might help to identify manufacturer.
