My Model A with a Y block has been on the road for about 8 years now and I have had two ignition coils go bad. I run a generator with output voltage at 14.3 volts and light bulbs do not burn out so I don't think I have an over voltage problem. The coils have both been the same, NAPA blue coil that requires no external resistor. The first one was mounted upside down on the firewall and after doing a little research I found out that some coils are not designed to be mounted upside down so I just figured that was what was wrong. Now another coil has gone bad, this one is mounted right side up. I have two Ford yellow top coils and could use one of them but I think they need a resistor AND I'm not sure what they came out of, later model electronic ignition or points. So one question is are all yellow top Ford coils the same? Another question is what coils are you all using? Are the NAPA coils just junk?
Not just the NAPA coils. Same is happening to Bosch coils. Folks start sourcing their coils at swap meets now -hoping to score a "Made in Germany" or at least an early "Made in Brazil" Bosch blue or red coil. I start to wonder how much companies are actually producing coils these days, and how much are the same, just with a different label/brand stuck to them. And don't get me into the quality of solid lifters we have now... Frank
Yes, I have been thinking about that. I did some research here and found some use a NAPA coil # IC12SB and resistor IC13 so I may try that.
I have Blue Streak (Standard Motor Products) FD471X coils on my '50 Ford and at least one of my '63s. All more than 3 years old, the one on the '63 (avatar) close to 20 years old and probably more than 80,000 miles. No problems. I'm not sure why I would use anything else at this point. I use a ballast resistor on the '50 and the original resistance wire on the '63s.
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