Warning - Don't fry your Electronic Ignition ! :

Took my car to Paul Kelly's garage near Dublin Airport yesterday. Paul has been looking after Minis for the past 40 years so he does know
a thing or two. My 1965 Mk.I Morris Cooper was distinctly off form - difficult to start - drinking petrol - and leaving clouds of whitish grey
smoke when pulling away from the traffic lights. First thing Paul did was have a look at my plugs - Nos.1 & 2 = wet ; Nos.3&4 = sooty black.
Change all 4 plugs to NGK BP5ES (from BP6ES) - a hotter running replacement. Then Exhaust Gas Analysis. This showed a reading of 4.8%.
Also the No.1 SU was too lean & No.2 far too rich. After carb.adjustment/balancing = Ex.Gas reading = 3.0%. Correct for 998cc A-Series.
Car now ticking over at 1,000 RPM & no more smoky exhaust. Paul was concerned that my almost new Lucas Competition Coil was far
too hot ! - barely possible to hold ones hand on it. He advised that I replace this Coil when I got the car home. Drove home 22 miles on
the Motorway & the car ran really well at a steady 60 MPH.
When I got home my luck suddenly changed. When replacing the "hot" Coil I did not pay attention to the + and - symbols on the new Coil
& managed to connect my Aldon "Ignitor" Electronic Ignition to the wrong sides of the new Coil. Result = car refused to start & a slight
burning smell ! - Yes I had managed to fry the Ignitor within my Distributor. A very expensive lapse of concentration which will cost me
at least 85 pounds - or here in Dublin 100 Euros.
David 2010

Ooops!!

we've all done similiar - i dropped the whole car on my arm last week as it slipped off the jack

Its amazing the number of people who have fried their electronic ignition.
I had a long talk on the phone with Rob (he of Aldon - the manufacturers of my system) and it appears that the great Welsh singer
Tom Jones is spot on when he sings " Its not unusual " . I asked why there were no safeguards to protect the ignition system from electrical
novices like me and was told there is no failsafe method of guarding against people doing the opposite of what they should do.
In my case I was replacing a Lucas Sports Coil which was running very hot with another coil and I, not paying attention, reconnected the
new coil the wrong way round with the disasterous results as already described.
The new Aldon Ignitor suitable for Lucas 25D Distributors arrived in the post last week & set me back 97 pounds (115 Euro).
My car has an Alternator and is negative earthed. There were/are 4 wires to be connected to the coil. Red wire from the Aldon to positive
side of coil & Black wire from the Aldon to the negative side. Of the other wires the low voltage Black wire from the loom was first verified by
connecting it to a bulb tester. It was then connected to the Positive side of the coil. The remaining green/white wire was the Rev Counter
lead and went to the negative side. Happily, the car started on first attempt. Sorted.
My Lucas Sports Coil was purchased at the NEC Birmingham last year. Its hot running was clearly not correct - there must be a fault in it.
I have learned of at least one other Mini owner.with a similar complaint. Has anyone else had a similar experience with these coils ???.
After all - I would never have fried my ignition if my Sports Coil had behaved itself in the first place.
David2010.