OMC coil to Bendix transplant

[mercuryman]

I recently acquired a KH7 with Bendix ignition that had a bad coil. I don’t have a spare coil so I tried removing the secondary from a bad coil and connecting a OMC coil externally in series. This produced a very weak spark, so I tried putting the OMC on Bendix laminate and got a hot spark. I removed the spark wire nipple and soldered piece of copper screen wire to spark wire connector. Applied some silicone and had to grind away a little of magneto plastic cover. I used the German coil and there is a very small clearance with the rotating magnet. Older OMC are larger and won’t work, the made in China ones may work also. I tested the motor ran great 29 mph and will idle OK. I used some metal wedges to keep the coil tight.
This KH7 didn’t have the water pump upgrade and I sanded down the impeller to fit. It had 12 holes for the water intake. It seems to pump plenty of water and after running wide open for a while the block was only warm.

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[fisherman6]

Nice work! 🙂
-Ben

OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

[jcrigan]

That’s good to know that it can be done. Good job. I have an old Tecumseh engine the has a smaller diameter coil. Maybe that might fit.

[george-emmanuel]

"That’s good to know that it can be done. Good job. I have an old Tecumseh engine the has a smaller diameter coil. Maybe that might fit."

That reminds me that there are small coils available at NAPA that are replacements for small air cooled engines. Years ago I installed a small coil ( I can’t remember what it fit) into a Neptune Mighty Mite mag. There was a slight difference in the core size and I use thin cardboard to fill the gap…Still runs great to this day. The coils do not have to have a perfect fit on the core to get spark. Plus—those coils are way cheaper than marine industry ones. Go visit a NAPA store sometime and ask to see their small engine catalog.

Good job Birney!

[mercuryman]

George, I have been thinking of small coils. I am looking at one on Ebay for a Homelite chainsaw called a Magneto Coil Module that will work with out points. I’m going to experiment and see if I can go with out points. The newer engines don’t use points the electronics are built into the coil.

[The Boat House]

That’s interesting. Looking forward to how
that works out.

[mercuryman]

I found another coil that will work in my spare parts box. Phelon FG420 this fits snug on laminate you need to file the rivet some for it to fit. You can run a wire up from bottom mag plate and connect to lug. I used a drill ti spin the motor you can see the spark on tester. This test is run a Champion but its the same Bendix Magneto.

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[brian]

The same Bendix coils were used on military gen sets and are available on-line. I have a running MEP016a generator with them. Lots of surplus military parts are still available at reasonable prices.

[Author]

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