Which coil?

[houseamber]

Sorry to ask a question which may have been previously addressed, but advice please on which coil to buy:
Accuspark red sport
Accuspark viper
Distributor doc coil

What would you buy?

Thank you

[geoberni]

My guess it you will now get as many opinions as there are makes/brands of Coil.....

When I got my car it had an Accuspark with a Red body and Black top (Sport?). That failed on me.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=69837&hilit=Coil&p=637860#p636467

I currently have a Lucas Sport fitted, with another Accuspark Sport as a spare....

[houseamber]

Thankyou, interestingly we had ruled out Lucas based on feedback.
OK, if your experience with accuspark was not good then perhaps distributor doctor is the way to go. As he doesn't seem to list his prices it is very difficult to know what the cost difference might be, though within reason we want reliability/quality as the main factor in our decision.

[myoldjalopy]

I would trust Distributor Doctor, based on the quality of his ignition parts. But another option is to source a good, old, 'proper-job' coil which would probably be cheaper AND of superior quality.

[houseamber]

Thank you - so many options!
My concern would be knowing that it was reliable if it was second hand?

Oh what to do!! Lots of food for thought

[liammonty]

Go with whatever the Distributor Doctor is selling. Unfortunately, modern Lucas coils are not good (having been left on the roadside by one that was under a year old!).

[ManyMinors]

One of my Minors has had a new coil supplied by The Distributor Doctor. It was fairly expensive but has been on the car several years and covered several thousand miles without a hiccup so well worth it. The original coil failed and so did the (inexpensive) replacement. My other car still has its original coil as far as I know, which will be decades old. That has never given any trouble either. I would be quite happy to fit a secondhand original coil if it was working OK. An original secondhand one will probably last longer than a cheap new one

[philthehill]

A well known quote springs to mind " It is never the coil"

[myoldjalopy]

"My concern would be knowing that it was reliable if it was second hand?"
You might well have the same concern about a modern one - as many have experienced!
A good, old coil (which can be tested) is often as described by 'ManyMinors' - reliable and giving long service. Like many things now, they were made more robustly. But if I wanted new, I would go to the Dizzy Doc

[houseamber]

Thanks to all of you - enormously helpful as ever. We will go away and have a think but at least have now got it down to either distributor doctor or a second hand (tested) one through your help

[pgp001]

I have an accuspark red coil on mine and have had no trouble in the two years it has been fitted.
I do carry an old coil as a spare for when it does give up the ghost, I ran the car on the old coil for a couple of weeks just to make sure I am not carrying a dud around as a spare.
I also have a spare distributor fitted with an Accuspark kit in the boot for the same reason. plus a spare SU fuel pump just to be sure.

Now I can safely guarantee it will be none of those things that lets me down in future, it will be something else I havn't thought of.

Phil P

[houseamber]

Love it

[kevin s]

I've had a lucas sport one on one of my cars for 20 years /100,000 miles and it still works perfectly still, but I have found what comes in a Lucas box nowadays is often cheap far eastern rubbish , for the minor I bought a Bosch high output coil which I took off to fit the correct one for the A+ electronic ignition bought from a mini spcialist, it only lasted about 500miles and now we are back on the Bosch one which seems to work fine with the electric ignition anyway.

Kevin