I'm quite thrilled to discover yes indeed, my 1980 Spitifres Lucas ignition box
does contain a GM HEI ignition module. That's terrific because those modules
work real well, and are cheap.
Now the questions.
I have a capaciter on one leg to the coil (don't remember which), and a round
thingie on the other, that might be a resistor actually, though it looks like a
caciter. All the wiring diagrams I've seen of GM HEI systems have no do-dads
wired into them. Why on earth would Lucas have them wired in? I can
understand a resistor if the coil is a step down type, and indeed if that round
thingie is actually a resistor. But what about the capaciter? I don't have
points, so I don't see why I need a capaciter. Did Lucas simply make this more
complex then it needs to be? Since I've got a spare MSD coil, I'll probably
just drop the do-dads out of the circuit completely when I re-do it.
I find it interesting also how poorly assembled the Lucas unit is. No good
thermal conduction (I've got a nice clean one to examine also), but lots of
water entry. That's one way to take a great system and make sure it performs
poorly, in proper Lucas tradition. With a little work, and a better coil, the
late Lucas/HEI system should be the cats meow when it comes to performance.
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