Dual ignition coils

[HenryJ]

This all came from a tip on ORE's Offroad Travel Kit.

I have had an MSD Blaster coil fail. This is the only time that I have had to be towed in . Since then I have been packing the warranteed coil as a spare.
After reading the above article I decided it was indeed a good idea to mount a spare under the hood where it is easily swapped. So much of our vehicle is electronic now, redundant systems are good insurance

It took a little time to figure out the easiest way to mount a spare ignition coil. Things are pretty tight. This looks like it just may work -


As you can see there is not much to building the bracket.

Here it is mounted on the engine.


I put caps on the unused coil to protect the connections from water and dirt.

Pretty easy to do. It probably took less than two hours to complete I bet the materials including a used coil from the local wrecking yard would be under $10 making it yet another low buck mod

[F9K9]

It looks like an easy mod and worth doing when off-roading light years from assistance.

I know this is off-topic but, when the big scare of the Y2K meltdown was the rage,......what did you do to prepare for it?

When online "friends" learned I had an inground brick home, one door and five windows, several ATF registered "things". I had to beat them away.

A banker told me to have a couple hundred in cash, which I did, and the only other thing I did was fill the bath tub with water. Had a party and we all survived. The federal government was so worried about the y2k disaster that the only problems we had was that year was a leap yr! It messed up all our computer programs on 2/29/00.

Also, on 1/1/00 the GPS error that the goverment built into civialian units disappeared. If you believe our military graciously decided that on that date we should have more accurate GPS recievers, I have a few things to sell you

HJ, one needs all the redundacy that we can when offroading. Your coil is a must and whatever else you can haul to be ready.

Remember, I am the one that if I owned a pet duck, it would drown

[HenryJ]

...when the big scare of the Y2K meltdown was the rage,......what did you do to prepare for it?

I don't recall doing anything at home to prepare. The city was a little worried though and paid an engine company to be on alert for the night, so I spent the night sleeping on the lazyboy at the station

I live in a rural setting, and power outages used to be the norm. Having 15 gallons of toilet flushing and wash water is normal. As well as 5 gal of drinking water and a case of batteries. The stove is gas so hot water is an option. I have yet to buy a generator, but it is on the list.

I guess my truck is the same way, plan for the worst and hope for the best

[F9K9]

Was curious is all. Company's like US Cav, Brigade Quartermaster made a mint with selling MREs and the such.

I'd like the xtra coil, plugs, fuel cell, full set of tools, 2nd spare but, need to get brave sometime. Just not stupid like a lot of ill prepared off roaders.

[HenryJ]

For those who are interested in building their own bracket:
If you look at the first picture that I posted you will see where I drilled the hole for the allen head screw to hold the coil above the ignition module. That screw is right in the corner of the bracket on which the module is mounted.
Now you will need to grind off the small amount of screw that protrudes out the back of the bracket from the module mounting screw, so that the coil will rest flush against that bracket.
Once you have drilled that hole mount up the coil to that one hole and cut a triangular template from paper or card stock. You can then mark the holes and outline for the bracket.

After I cut it out of steel using a sawzall (reciprocating saw) and drilled one hole for alignment purposes, then marked the other two holes. A little grinding was required to allow for clearances around the coil body.

The bottom corner needs a little bend to compensate for the extra bracket bolted to the stock coil mounting location. I just finessed it with a pair of pliers prior to drilling that hole.

I used a scrap of .060 steel that was lying around.

[killian96ss]

I have had an MSD Blaster coil fail. This is the only time that I have had to be towed in .

I have had an MSD coil fail on my SS also, and it's the same coil for the CC. The stock coil is rated @ 38,000 volts, and the MSD is only 40,000 volts! Not much of an improvement. The stock coil appears to have better insulation as well. I have seen the MSD coil for 96 and up cars and trucks listed with the wrong voltage (48,000 volts). The 95 and earlier MSD coils with the dual plugs are 48,000 volts, but not ours. Accel does make one for our truck which is a true 48,000 volts. All of this being said I would not recommend the MSD coil for our truck when the stock one is just as good and will last longer. Now back to the dual coils. I think this is a very good idea, and I would also like to have some backup when I'm deep in the woods. Brule, what do you think about running an automatic coil selector? I know the only downside would be not knowing which coil is running. For instance if your primary coil fails and then switches over to the secondary, you might not even be aware that this has occured, and you would now not have a backup if needed again.

Steve

[2bunik]

I tell you what .. I am going junk yard hunting tomorrow. I might pick up an extra coil.. I think you did a nice job by the way.. Looks sharp and may come in handy.. I must add ! your truck is ready for anything HJ... (thats awsome)

[HenryJ]

... I must add ! your truck is ready for anything HJ... (thats awsome)

Thanx! It is getting there
I have a couple "projects" in the works before this summers expedition. Hope they work out as well.