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I rigged up the Ford Model T buzz coil with a 6V game camera battery,
and did the open air spark test per the shop manual.
It fired the 3/16″ open air spark gap great before the video a few times.
It did “okay” during the video, but afterward, only fired intermittent,
or not at all, then NaDa.
When I pushed the test button and it didn’t fire, I would hear a faint
buzzing by the coils. Stupid me tried to see if I could feel which coil
was buzzing / vibrating…… must have got too close to the secondary……
Lit me up like a Christmas tree hooked up directly to the sub station
transformer!…. OUCH!
I turned the lights out in the garage, then pushed the test button again,
and besides the buzz, I could see a faint glow, when looking under the
rear coil.
I pulled the magneto off again, separated the coils, and tested with
the Stevens tester, using the “probe” function to look for leaks.
I found none, and each coil fired on the Stevens at around 2 amps.
Totally confounded now, but wondering if it’s a grounding issue between
the magneto and powerhead mount, but that doesn’t make sense, as
all the “grounding” was done atop the mag plate, not on the powerhead.
The shop manual said to ground the Ford (T’s buzz ?) coil’s secondary,
which I did to the mag plate along with the other grounds.
Could that be an issue?
The reason for the trouble shooting, when I originally finished
going thru the magneto, new plug wires, condensers, etc.,
One cylinder was sparking at the plugs better than the other,
and it was determined not to be the spark plug.
Also, I could not even get a “pop” out of the motor when using
fogging oil, or gasoline in the carb, or cylinder.
Compression is 65 psi on both cylinders, so I would think that’s
good enough for a little action?
Prepare to be boarded!