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MG MGA - Coil Question

On the coil there are two posts. One that has the letters CB and the other has the letters SW. What do these latters stand for and what post goes to the distributor?
GK George

CB goes to the distributor, and SW goes to the ignition switch.
Ed Bell

CB = Contact Breaker

SW = Switch
Malcolm Asquith

Thanks for the reply. I should have known that but it seems the older I get the more forgetfull I get.
GK George

If you change from positive earth to negative earth you need to switch those wires, "CD to ignition switch and "SW" contact breaker. Confusing enough, which is why newer coils are marked with "+" and "-".
Barney Gaylord

As CB stands for the initials of 2 words - Contact Breaker, it did not seem logical to me that the company would have made SW stand for the first 2 letters of one word - SWitch. So I have done a bit of research and found a 1930s motor engineering book (Practical Automobile Engineering Illustrated) that refers to it as Switch Wire. Now that follows the logic and gets my vote.

Steve
Steve Gyles

This thread was discussed on 07/09/2009

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.