M18 coil

[john hall]

Replacing coil on M18. Using Kohler manual and using shims as instructed. The center laminations thru coil is closer to magnet than the the ones on outside. Book does not specify setting air gap at any one place. So I set gap on center and added equal shims to outside. The outsides are probably .006-8” wider. Bench test shows just under 1/4” spark jump. Think it will work or am I missing something? Wondering if a OEM coil would have this issue?

[R Bedell]

Wondering if a OEM coil would have this issue?

AH, an aftermarket coil. Regardless, you should be fine.

[ol'George]

I use a piece of copper .010 thick, one can also use plastic, like a credit card
if same thickness, instead of them beat to death feeler gauges I have from setting SBC valve clearances for 60 years.
Situation is:
closer makes somewhat stronger spark, but should not touch rotating Maggots as Taryl says.
So some engineer that could not sleep decided .010 was a good guess,
considering all variations of tolerances at their maximum/minimums.

I picked up a CCC coil ---(cheap china coil) on evil pray some years back and while it works as it should above *40, it struggles to produce sufficient spark
at lower temps because of the reduced cranking rpm's.

Part of me wants to fling it like Baby poop, for a Jen ewe wine OEM Kroller koil, but the thrifty part of me has used it on 2 different engines/machines.

The dam coil will prolly outlast me.
Me figgures it has a few less windings than it ought too.

Prolly the pre skool 4 yr old running the winding machine in China hadn't larned to count that high yet, thus the too few turns of copper wire.
There I go again assuming and rambling

[john hall]

Originally Posted by R Bedell

AH, an aftermarket coil. Regardless, you should be fine.

I hope this one lasts. It looks identical to the aftermarket one I put in 3-4 years ago when I was going through this machine. Darn thing died sitting under the shed. I tested it per the Kohler manual and it checks bad. New one is providing spark so that's a good thing.

[john hall]

Originally Posted by ol'George

I use a piece of copper .010 thick, one can also use plastic, like a credit card
if same thickness, instead of them beat to death feeler gauges I have from setting SBC valve clearances for 60 years.
Situation is:
closer makes somewhat stronger spark, but should not touch rotating Maggots as Taryl says.
So some engineer that could not sleep decided .010 was a good guess,
considering all variations of tolerances at their maximum/minimums.

I picked up a CCC coil ---(cheap china coil) on evil pray some years back and while it works as it should above *40, it struggles to produce sufficient spark
at lower temps because of the reduced cranking rpm's.

Part of me wants to fling it like Baby poop, for a Jen ewe wine OEM Kroller koil, but the thrifty part of me has used it on 2 different engines/machines.

The dam coil will prolly outlast me.
Me figgures it has a few less windings than it ought too.

Prolly the pre skool 4 yr old running the winding machine in China hadn't larned to count that high yet, thus the too few turns of copper wire.
There I go again assuming and rambling

When I brought this mower back to life, I put in an aftermarket coil---it only lasted about 4 years. This one looks identical. IF it happens again, I'll go OEM