12volts for Duraspark II?

[Anonymous]

Question - I've had my Duraspark II installed for a while now. While I did all the wiring for the box, I used my stock coil hookup from my 65.

I've noticed the requirement for Pertronix to have 12v to the coil. I checked the (+) end of my coil and I'm getting slightly over 10v.

Is the optimum way to have it hooked up? Would there be any reason to run 12v to the coil? Do I check the hookups differently for a DSII module?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, Corvette;

10v at the coil is about right for DuraSpark. There is a 1.0 ohm resistance wire between the IGN terminal (12v) at the keyswitch and the (+) terminal of the coil. This becomes 8-10v when measured at the coil, depending on the coil.

If you use the DuraSpark coil, you can get nearly 40,000 volts out of it. If you used the stock '65 coil, you're getting about 18,000 to 20,000 volts at the plugs. My DuraSparks all show between 8.0 and 9.5 volts, which means they're a little higher current draw than the one you're describing. This higher current translates to higher spark voltage.

You might want to add a 'start-boost' circuit if you're having trouble starting, though. This consists of a wire from the starter terminal (at the starter solenoid) to the (+) side of the coil. This raises the volts to 12 when starting to aid in hot starts. It drops out after starting to prevent the coil from burning up.