How hot should my coil get?

[jw2101]

Ok I got my boat idling outside right now and touched the coil. It was pretty hot I could touch it for about 5 seconds. I have a 351 with the coil mounted 1/2 inch from intake. How hot is to hot? How much of the heat is from engine? Should I space it higher? I have a problem bogging and loosing top end and Im wondering if its my coil again?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How hot should my coil get?

Do you have a ballast resistor in the circuit or is this an internal resistor coil? If it is an external resistor coil, what is the voltage at the coil while running? What is your dwell?

 

[jw2101]

Re: How hot should my coil get?

It is internal. I will check the voltage now.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How hot should my coil get?

If it is internal, you don't need to bother checking. I twill always be battery voltage.

They get hot. An internal resistor coil will get hotter than a non-resistor type since it is dissipating the entire voltage within the coil vs an external resisitor coil where the external resistor dissipates a bunch.