internal/external coil question

[Jim W]

Hello,
I picked up 2 external coil mag's today as part of my boat purchase.
Can someone explain something to me???
If a mag uses magnets to make it's spark, why would you use a mag with an external coil??
With a external coil, isnt the mag just a distributor with points??
Thanks, be good, Jim

[Fiat48]

The mag still makes it's own spark. Its a generator. The coil is not really a coil...it is a transformer. Think of the transformer as a spark booster.

[fc-pilot]

Well lets simplify this (this is going to be oversimplified, but it helps beginners to get the drift). The "mag" works like the normal distributor. It (usually) has points that work just like a normal distributor. But instead of having 12 volts from the battery, it makes its own primary power with the magnets and internal windings. So the basic mag just supplies its own power to run the primary side of the Transformer (which is just a variation of a coil). If you think of it that way it makes a little more sense.
Paul

[Jim W]

Thanks Paul,
So, what are the advantages/disadvantages of internal/external?
Be good, Jim

[fc-pilot]

Thanks Dragboats, to be honest, I have only run two mags and they were both on a BORING lake boat. There was no way I could have noticed the performance difference. They both worked, and that was all I needed.
Paul

[Jim W]

Thanks Dragboats, to be honest, I have only run two mags and they were both on a BORING lake boat. There was no way I could have noticed the performance difference. They both worked, and that was all I needed.
Paul
So----Fc
Are you admitting to us, you had a couple of wacker's or were they Old's engines in a jet driver???? :rollside:
Sorry, just had to bust on ya!!!
Be good, Jim

[fc-pilot]

So----Fc
Are you admitting to us, you had a couple of wacker's or were they Old's engines in a jet driver???? :rollside:
Sorry, just had to bust on ya!!!
Be good, Jim
Nope, just a 400+ horse big block Chevy in a Hallett flat bottom v-drive. We skied behind that thing for 11 years without doing a dang thing other than change distributors and oil. After 7 years we lost a module in the HEI so we threw in a sprint mag we had sitting around. After two years of running it a friend of ours said he needed a sprint mag and would give us a Vertex (internal coil) and a few other parts in return. We did not care what was in it just as long as it ran so we gave it to him. It ran just fine with the Vertex for another four years until I pulled the motor out of that boat (the Hallett is going to get a full make-over) and dropped that motor into another flat and sold it.
Funnycar guys would not be caught in a jet, or worse yet, a whacker? ;)
Paul