VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc Inverted Ignition coil

I just noticed,in photo posted on 2/11/22 by BearsFan315, the coil is installed what I was told is "upside down" !!
I was also told that is unacceptable and will cause damage to coil.Apparently I was given bad information, as I have been following BearsFan315s beautiful restoration of his 29, and seriously doubt he would install the coil in the wrong position. Therefore,can I assume it is ok to install in that position ? Thanks as always!!

Link to the photo? Every coil I've seen has the coil wire socket (pointy end) down. I wouldn't think it makes a difference in the performance of the coil.

I agree with Tiny.

Take a closer look at those pictures. You will see that those coils are what are called "Electrolok" coils. The shielded wire from the ignition switch goes into a cap on top of the coil. The terminal for the wire that connects to the terminal for the points in the distributor is on the bottom as is the high tension lead to the distributor cap. These coils were designed and manufactured to operate in that orientation.

I agree that there are some later regular 12 volt coils that were not made to operate upside down. The oil that was served as a dielectric and cooled them would leak out.

From 1935-1958 the coil was mounted on the side of the engine with the wire to the coil on the bottom To eleminate the problem with the wire droping out of the coil they changed it to mounting end pointing up.
The 8 cylinder engines have it up with the same design coil.
What pointing up also accomplished was ending the oil (from in side the coil) seeping out, which was common.

Is that really an electrolock coil on Bearsfan's car? It is a very nice car.

Posted in the 1929-32 forum, posts by Bearsfan, seems to me is a standard 6 volt replacement coil, which is a easy replacement on 29-32 cars with a similar original coil used with no electrolock caps. 1929 to 1932 electrolock cable is connected directly to the distributor on the engine side.

Thank you all for that info. I turned my coil to the position where the wire to the distributor faces down as that seems to be the correct position.I will watch closely to see if anything comes a drippin' out..... Is it common that a coil would leak ? Or----would the consensus be to leave it with the " pointy end " up ? It was working fine it the up position and I certainly do not want to have caused harm by changing it. Thanks again for your help.

Coil
...Yes that is a 6v Modern Coil (have the original one on the Shelf)
...Mounted it per the information gathered from the Tech Advisors and Information I have
...leaking is not an issue with the modern coils, nor is the orientation (based on the information i read and being installed for about 9 years that way on the firewall)

Electrolock
...yes that is the original 1929 2 post electrolock
...it was rebuilt and serviced by Chipper :)
...wired and set up per the SAE information into a Distributor that was rebuilt and tested by Junkyard Dog :)