I need some help figuring out if I was sold the wrong ignition coil. See this thread for more info...

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36350

I can't help you with OEM coil configurations on a 240, but I'm currently working on a conversion to the MSD 6A ignition. (You had asked about electronic ignition.) This unit will trigger off of either points or a pickup coil, and it is designed to work with the Blaster 2 coil, as it should. I'll have pics of the install before too long, but as a preview, it's a pretty easy install. I moved my coil to where the (now very rotted) service light used to be, just in front of the brake master cylinder. There's a heat shield bracket there (at least on the '78 280), and the coil bracket can be bolted right on top of it. Then there's space where the coil used to be for the 6A ignition module. It's almost a bolt-in install. I made two aluminum rails to bolt into the old ignition coil captured nuts, and the base of the ignition module screws into that with self-tapping screws. For stabilization, the end of one of the aluminum rails (or two, if you so desire) brackets into the shock tower with a hole I drilled there for a sheet metal screw. (I HATE drilling holes in the body and will avoid it at all cost, but I found I did need to drill that one.)

MSD's unit isn't an obvious upgrade to the electronic ignition I already had. Mine was simply getting feeble and somewhat random. However, it's an excellent and obvious upgrade to points, at least if you're going to drive your car very much. If it's a fair-weather, weekend-drive sort of car, I'd just keep the points (personally).

BTW, here's a link someone gave me to a cheaper electronic ignition upgrade:

http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/gmhei.html

The cost of that person's upgrade was about $100. However, it included a wrecking yard 280 distributor. I'll caution you that almost every distributor in a wrecking yard will have a frozen up breaker plate, and I bet the breaker plates are frozen on most of the Z's still on the road. You can go with a rebuilt 280Z distributor for around $100 and probably turn in your 240 distributor as a core. Autozone Duralast distributors carry a lifetime warranty, BTW, which might be useful with the problematic vacuum advance design.

Edited November 6, 200915 yr by FastWoman

Thanks for the info. Yes, it'll be an occasional driver car and I'm not interested in any major upgrades at this point. I know from my experience in the Land Cruiser world that there are electronic module upgrades for the existing Toyota distributor. One can also swap up to an electronic equipped distributor in many cases - all making this a simple upgrade.

Given I need to buy a coil anyway, and I'll be doing a full tune-up parts replacement this seems like a good time to go electronic... IF the parts are "known"... I don't want to be breaking any new ground here.

But I still need to know if they sold me the wrong coil!

Never saw the resolution to this thread - any coil with a 1.5 Ohm primary resistance that is used with a ballast resistor should work. I'm going to buy a Pertronix ignitor electronic distributer conversion ($70) and a matching Flamethrower Coil ($32) - pretty cheap upgrade.

I ended up getting a Pertronix set-up.