I was wondering if the coil should be pointing up (i.e. distributor wire located on the top) or down (i.e. distributor wire located on the bottom)

Mine is pointing up but a few pictures I have seen recently show it the other way?

Does it make a difference either way?

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Craig Fowler
Newfoundland, Canada
74 Bracken MGB
Email: fowler@nl.rogers.com
Web: [www.cardomain.com]

Craig,

The coil will function no matter what direction you turn it to.

Cheers,

Rob

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Keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up!

Nope, makes no difference. You could even mount it sideways.

The original was pointed down to keep water out of the top...

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Gary



May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face..

Read FRM's comment in this thread.
[www.mgexperience.net]

Clifton

Clifton,

Thanks for the reference to the previous thread. I usually do a search prior to posting because I am usually not the first person to ask the question and they are always followed by informative answers.

Dropped the ball this time however. Immediate satisfaction kicking in.

Thanks all for the response.

I could have avoided one problem by pointing it downward. I recently removeed the windshield washer pump (which wasn't working) to find a suitable replacement (Any universal ones work?) I left the wires that went to the pump dangling. One found its way down on top of the coil.

I noticed I was having a harder time than usual getting the car started. Tonight I figured out why when I saw the wire on the coil. Tucked it out of the way and voila car starts fine again.

Probably lucky I didn't do any damage!!

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Craig Fowler
Newfoundland, Canada
74 Bracken MGB
Email: fowler@nl.rogers.com
Web: [www.cardomain.com]




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2007 07:08PM by cfowler.

Point it up or all the smoke will drip out :-)

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Basil C. Adams
1956 MGA Coupe (Show Car)
1958 MGA Coupe (Racecar)
1959 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
1960 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
MKIII Elva Courier (E1056)
1967 427 Cobra
1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal
A coupla late MGBs
1960 Austin Healy BN7
More Cars than Brains

From a previous post on this same topic...

Date: July 16, 2007 06:26PM

Just for the record , yes they will work either end up.

The reason for mounting them upside down is two fold.

Any water or condensation on the coil lead (the one going from the coil to the distributor) will run to the lowest point on the lead and hopefully drip off (probably onto something even more water sensitive then the coil !) and not run into the coil socket where the lead is fitted. It also helps keep the other wires dry for the same reason.

The second reason is the coil is oil filled with some air gap to allow the oil to expand when warm.
Mounting the coil inverted allows the heat producing end to be in the cooler oil and for some thermo cooling effect and the air gap to be at the other end.

Pete.

Basil Adams Wrote:

Quote

Point it up or all the smoke will drip out :-)

I thought it had to be down as eletricity only runs downhill.

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My Blue 77 B is gone after being totaled in a wreck. But the blog is still here...

[1977mgb.blogspot.com]

pointing it up means you can read the lables/legends on the terminals. and be less apt to wite it up wrong.

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1973 Roadster. A nice 50-footer!
SUs, Datsun 5-speed

Some number of years ago there was an accessory which was considered a must have item and any car with sporting pretenses.

This was an aluminium collar with fins radiating from it and looked like the exhaust collars used on some British motorcycles at the time.

The go faster trick was to mount the coil in the pointing down position and the attach this collar to the end of the metal cylinder pointing upward thus adding to the cooling effect and helping the coil either make more power or last longer (or sometimes even both).

The true enthusiast naturally did all this and went one extra step by painting the radiating fins of the collar with matt black paint.

The effect on the engine performance must have been immeasurable !

Pete.

Peter7307 Wrote:

Quote

Some number of years ago there was an accessory which was considered a must have item and any car with sporting pretenses.
This was an aluminium collar with fins radiating from it and looked like the exhaust collars used on some British motorcycles at the time.
The go faster trick was to mount the coil in the pointing down position and the attach this collar to the end of the metal cylinder pointing upward thus adding to the cooling effect and helping the coil either make more power or last longer (or sometimes even both).
The true enthusiast naturally did all this and went one extra step by painting the radiating fins of the collar with matt black paint.
The effect on the engine performance must have been immeasurable !
Pete.

Peter,

That musta been back in the days before they discovered tailpipes the size of toilet seats and Big Red "R" decals.

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Basil C. Adams
1956 MGA Coupe (Show Car)
1958 MGA Coupe (Racecar)
1959 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
1960 MGA Coupe (unrestored)
MKIII Elva Courier (E1056)
1967 427 Cobra
1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal
A coupla late MGBs
1960 Austin Healy BN7
More Cars than Brains

cfowler Wrote:

Quote


I could have avoided one problem by pointing it downward. I recently removed the windshield washer pump (which wasn't working) to find a suitable replacement (Any universal ones work?)

Yes, I think I saw a universal replacement pump in either the Moss or Victoria British catalog.

I always thought if you did not have it pointing down the cork would dry out.

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Bill Hines
1966 MGB Roadster

I picked up a cheap, generic replacement windshield washer pump from the local car parts store. Looks fine and works fine.