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MG TD TF 1500 - Original coil

I discover original not working coil. My question: will anyone recommend bringing it from “valley of dead” or shelve it and use repro.
Boris


B Gruzman

Hi Boris,

You have an original pre 1955 coil, non oil filled. What's the date on the base? See Archives for lots of info., but on my 1954 TF, a similar coil only expired a couple of years ago! As far as I know they cannot be repaired - I use later 60s-70s Lucas coils, and aerosol spray them satin black, They look and work fine - keep the old one as a memento, and get a good repro, or older Lucas coil.

Cheers

John
J C Mitchell

Boris, This is the coil on my 55. Been told it's the right one. PJ




P Jennings

The Moss repro is very, very close to the original. I think the crimp at the bottom is different, and it does not say Lucas. I have some original TF pictures at home- I'll try to find them and see what coil that car had. George
George Butz

Hi PJ and Boris,

PJ's coil is the later oil filled coil, which came in around December 1954. Boris, you have the earlier non oil filled coil -what car is it on and what are the dates on the base of the coil? With that info. we can move forward!

Cheers

John
J C Mitchell

I'm not sure about the clamp on my coil, but it has, I think, an original type cheese head screw that has a solid shaft most of the way and about 1/4 inch of threads. The people at Jubilee told me their called cheese heads, never heard that before and the clamp looks different on the bottom of any I've seen. Nothing new there. (Grin). PJ
P Jennings

Boris - is your old coil a BR-12?

Tom
t lange

Boris,
I run a Lucas sports coil (and pertronix) painted black and slapped a Lucas sticker on it. Looks just like Mr. Jennings picture. Far better looking than the bright blue BW that was on the car when I bought it and matches pretty close the orginial I found hidding in the side-curtain hatch 10 years ago.
OBTW: Think I got the sticker from Tripple-C along with my bumble-bee plug wires. (highly recomended..since you are in that area!)
Cheers,
David
David Sheward

I am not sure about my coil, I will check it tonight, but it was from 1954 TF (production date of the car was January 1954). I have repro coil but it look totally out of place.

Boris


B Gruzman

I still have the original coil on my 1954 mgtf dated 12-53 for my March 54 (think I have the date right) It scares me as I don't know what will cause it to fail. ANy thoughts on the danger of continuing to use?
K E MURPHY

Ken: About the only thing that can happen is your performance will start to degrade after a while. It won't burn your car up or cause any collateral damage. At least I have never heard of anything like that.

I also use a Moss repo coil. I still have my sept 52 coil standing by just in case someone comes up with the magic formula to repair them.

It should be noted (and you can Google or check the archives) that the bench tests with a volt meter don't seem to indicate if your coil is good or bad. Mine passed the test but the performance was still not what it should have been.
Christopher Couper

Any combination of factors over which you have NO control will cause it to fail. It can get weak over time, or fail abruptly.

You have two choices - keep running it until there is a problem (my choice) with a spare on the side, or replace it now and keep the old one as a spare. New ones, the Moss replacements, look something like the originals, but not exactly. They seem to be the best bet right now.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

The TD/TF Workshop Manual p. C1 describes two coils - Lucas Q12 and Lucas LA12.
" The coil is a Lucas Model Q12, Service No. 45020 ... On later models a fluid-filled coil, Lucas No. LA12 (Part No. 2A536) is fitted as standard."

I have two TF Service Parts lists. One dated May 1954 and also the second issue (AKD804). They show the change in part numbers for the coils.
> May 1954 = P/N A302 (I don't know if this is Lucas Q12, Service No. 45020)
> AKD804 = P/N 2A536 (Lucas LA12)

The original LA12 coil is natural metal color in TF-1500 #9052 that Frank Cronin photographed. (Photo below.) The car was built 25-Jan-1955.

I purchased a natural metal coil with screw-in HT terminal from British Parts Northwest for my '55 TF-1500 #7211 build date 23-Sep-1954.
http://www.bpnorthwest.com/ignition-coil-w-screw-in-ht-lead.html

Lonnie
TF7211


LM Cook

You probably know that the identification marks are stamped on the base of the ignition coil.

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

I will offer something a bit counter to tom's advice. Just opinion...probably forged with 40 years of aviation maintenance experience, I would never keep a marginal part as a spare. If you evaluate the part as fit for duty..taking into account it's age..fine run it, but if you evaluate it as marginal and not fit for service..get rid of it and keep a 100% good part as a spare. Regards, Tom
tm peterson

Tom, you are so .. da d right trash those parts or even better whack it with a hammer then trash it before it gets in someone other hands.

Gerard
Gerard Hengeveld

Tom Peterson - I agree completely with what you say, but I think Ken was asking if his original coil was in any way dangerous to use. I was under the impression his coil (unlike Boris's in the original post) was working fine. I agree to trash marginal coils, condensers, etc. - PLEASE DON'T sell them on eBay!

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Speaking of coils, what does the SW stand for on one of the posts? PJ
Paul S Jennings

Switch (SW). The other is (CB) Contact Breaker. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I have an original Q12 coil dated 5/47 which I'd like to use, however I'm unsure of how to interpret my Ohms testing. The primary reads 4.5 ohms and the reading on the secondary is 17.08 ohms.

It is a dry coil. Does anyone know if this coil is in spec?

Thanks,
Brian W.
ZBMan

This thread was discussed between 22/11/2010 and 31/05/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.