My dad bought a V8 coil for his 355 build I'm doing for him... I slapped it on my 3.1 V6 to see if my coil was bad. Well it worked, but the car runs roughly and drops the idle too low while rolling in neutral. It's better than not starting at all like before though...

Are these coils interchangable? They are both for remote mounted coils on a GM HEI system. I want to know if the coil should be working fine without causing it to run roughly, so I can start looking elsewhere for the problem.

 

I guess they are interchangable...

I fired it up and let it get warm, and it all seemed to smooth out, the car feels great now.

But still... Any knowledgable people that could tell me if this would damage or cause tuning problems with the ECM if I leave it in?

I'd like to know before I mount it permanently (it's a bitch to rip the bracket out)

 

Cant really answer unless I know both cars enough to punch it into a parts house computer and see if I come up with the same part. Of course, I dont need to do that; YOU DO. Just access someone like Advance Auto parts' web site and list the vehicle and look for the coil part number. Do same for other vehicle. if they match, you can be sure there is NOT a problem. If not, there may well be a problem. Might be something as simple as the way it mounts. Yet it might still work just fine. Another method is to check with aftermarket makers like accell and see if the part number is the same for both vehicles. They do not generally worry about mounts, they just give you new instructions. Being hotter coils they have more general part numbering systems and simply build more common use coils. This gives us some better interchangability info.


In days of old when mechanics were bold, this was a simple thing to know. Some had a resistor built into the coil while other car makers used a resistor seperate from the coil. ALL you had to know was which one you had. Yes, some coils were hotter, but all coils were enough to fire the darn plugs in an emergency. As long as the resistor situation was right.

 

yup

it'll work

what a waste of an Accel coil though... On my 6 banger???

Oh well

It's what I have on hand, so I'm using it... Guess I'll get good wires and plugs for it now too, since they're due for a change.

 

My first car was a SMALL six banger. Not going to mention how long ago. What I learned from that old thing was this. If it can be improved upon, we should do so. The most important ones to improve are weakest or slowest ones. Thats what made it very important that I make that little sucker go as fast as I could. This taught me a great number of things about the basics of an internal combustion engine.

later, in college, I couldnt even afford a car that GOOD. So I got a Desoto, flathead six with some kind of semi automatic transmission that I dont remember the name to. Again, it was imperative that I make this thing do wonders. It went surfing with me and rode the sandy beaches. Must have weighed a ton, but I learned how to make it usefull and do wonders.

Dont worry about the six, make it fly.