coil colors

[olcah]

I have a 54 Erude 25 HP that is skipping. It has one coil with black plastic insulation and green. Laminations. Other coil has blue insul with green lam. Johnson pl and manual says that motor should have coil no 580118 and condensers 580321 (.18-.22mfd). As a side I have spareparts two German coils. One says"to fit OMC 582995" The other say to fit yet another OMC number. Does it matter? What should I have in my 54 Big Twin? Thank you

[mr-asa]

Some of the coils seem to make a hotter spark than others (which is why the ones that outboardjim sells are wanted over others,) but I don’t think that makes it so that one cylinder would fall out periodically. If the coils ohm out properly I’d look at other aspects of the ignition system, maybe you have a capacitor that is starting to go bad, or one of the points has an issue?

[frankr]

That OMC Universal coil was made for over 30 years in a whole bunch of colors and coverings, and part numbers. Not to mention all the aftermarket ones. They even spec out with differing resistances. But all are interchangeable. As for the German ones, they have a good reputation.

[wiscoboater]

Take a good look at your plug wires both under the flywheel and outside of it. Make sure they are tight/secure in the coils and not chafing anywhere. A chafed section grounding out can cause that too. As long as you have the flywheel off polish the points real well and clean and tighten all connections from points and condensers. Check the boot to plug wire connections as well. Would the laminations being to tight to the flywheel cause this as well….Frank?

[chris-p]

No, it will just lock it up or make it tight to turn. You want the laminations as close to the flywheel as possible, without touching, for greatest spark.

[Mumbles]

Art S has a picture of different colored coils showing which year they are from. Maybe he can post it again.

[lotec]

Here you go! I keep finding, and people have given me, more of them that are not in the photo. (both OE and aftermarket) I need to get a bigger board to mount them on!

[mr-asa]

Nice resource. If that photo were a little higher resolution you could use it to ensure you wired a magneto plate correctly as well.

[olcah]

I changed a coil and notice when rotating the flywheel by hand that there is a tick sound and the cam plate on the bottom of the magneto plates moves a bit. Is this attraction to the flywheel magnet or are laminations too close?

[chris-p]

Likely coil too far out and hitting magnet slightly

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