Johnson coil lead connections on Elgin magneto replacement?

[moxie-man]

The coil on my 2HP 55′ elgin was cracked so I replaced it with an OMC coil per the Elgin Tech Tip number 1 from the site. The picture shows the black lead attached to the ground screw but the green lead has tape blocking what it is attached to . I assumed the green lead is attached to the top of the condenser which I did with short piece of wire. Is that the correct connections. I am getting no spark but am ohming out at 8k ohms from the plug wire to the chassis.
I will be tearing it apart to check the the condenser tonight. Is there anything left that I need to check or have overlooked. One other question is that the plug wire appears to be a little thicker than normal. What is the center lead wire gage on the Packard wire that is recommended for Elgins so that I can measure and compare it to the one currently on my engine?

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

Green to the points…Black to ground

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[ddoyle]

My Elgin went out of service a long time ago when some one tightened the tank down on a spark plug wire. It wore thru. I peeled back to undamaged wire and it measures .07 ish. Not sure what that means in terms of gauge. It does seem pretty stout.

Was wondering if you could point me toward the ‘tech tips’ you are refering to?

Thanks.

[moxie-man]

Richard thank you. Ddoyle – the Odd Job motor site has the info on rebuilding a 1 1/4 Elgin and in that site is a link to tech tip 1 which OMC coil exchange. There are 2 or 3 more on the tech page.

[lotec]

Here is the link to the coil replacement article on my OddJobMotors.com website:

http://www.oddjobmotors.com/tt1_replacewico_coil.htm

The photo at the end of the article shows a ’56 Elgin magneto with the Wico coils replaced by OMC Universal coils. It has the green coil wire, condenser wire (OMC condenser replacing the original Wico screw-top) and the braided Wico points pigtail all tied together through the respective ring connectors with a #6 machine screw & nut. The tape is covering it so it won’t accidentally short – I did that as a test to see if everything would work, a solderless connector crimping all together would probably be better in the long run.

[jerry-ahrens]

Sounds like you have a faulty condensor. Russ Larson over at the Martin motors website has the replacement Wico condensors. The OMC coil conversion works great. I did my 54 7 1/2 Elgin this way last year.

[frankr]

Wico Mag, right? Those things are notorious for developing a non-conductive corrosion on the breaker point contact faces. Completely remove them from the mag plate and take them apart and polish each contact individually, shiny bright.

[moxie-man]

Remembered the points after my last reply and cleaned/polished them(single cylinder). Also sanded all contact leads with 600 grit paper. At first there was no spark but after respearing plug connector barb into the plug wire , I got a bright spark. Am now looking for 7 mil Packard plug wire with stranded leads as well as boots. My local auto shops do not carry it or the boots. I will probably order my 7 mil and 9 mil ( for A35 ) plus boots and connectors from the guy around Worcester MA. Single plug wires and boots from the marine dealer are expensive.

One thing I cannot find is the fine copper screen for the carb bowl and above the tank valve. Went to the oldest hardware store (60 years at least) and they did not carry it anymore. Might try an older tractor place for it. Does anybody know how long the pull cord for the 50s elgins should be. The ball bearings in my pull start do not always pull smoothly and slip or is that typical for the elgins? Thank you all for the advice you have given. I will continue to rebuild my carb and gaskets. Cannot wait to put it back together and test fire this motor.

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