You were lucky it was only the coil on a very old car !!
Rich
>----------
>From:
> prische(at)mshare.cupertino.k12.ca.us[SMTP:prische(at)mshare.cupertino.k12.ca
>.us]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 1996 9:28 AM
>To: alpines(at)autox.team.net
>Subject: Accidental + - Conversion!
>
>I sent the following message to the list yesterday and it never seemed
>to
>come through so I am sending it again. It didn't show up on my mail so
>if
>you did already get it...sorry for the duplication.
>
>While trying to trace the problem of why my Tach would not work, I
>found
>the problem in my coil connection. About 8 months ago I switched a coil
>from a series II into my series V paying close attention to the
>physical
>position of the connections from the series II(not looking at the + or
>-).
>I connected it up in the same way it was connected on the series II. I
>hadn't been thinking about the difference in + or - earth so I ended up
>installing it incorrectly on the series V with the connections set for
>a
>positive earth car.
>
>What I don't understand is why the engine ran just fine with the
>terminations wrong. I've been driving it for about 8 months that way. I
>switched it back and the engine still works and also now the tach
>works.
>Does anyone know why the engine would work with the coil terminations
>reversed and have I done any damage to anything because of it? Do I
>need to
>reset timing or anything?
>
>This is a pretty forgiving car if you can make a mistake like that and
>still run the car!
>
>
>