Heinze 1909-11 ignition coil

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: Heinze 1909-11 ignition coil
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zack bear on Monday, December 23, 2013 - 11:18 am:

Hey everybody, I'm new to the forum and was hoping some of you might be able to help me out. I have recently acquired three (what I think to be) model T ignition coils. After some research I think one of them might be of interest - a 1909-1911 heinze. (Info from this link: http://coildoctor.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/The_Model_T_Ignition_Coil_-_P art_1-1.22231952.pdf)

Does anyone know the value of a single coil? It's stamped HECO twice on the top, and has the 8 brass screws holding the top plate on. I can't seam to upload any pictures on account of the size limits on the forum. I can't seam to find any of the earlier ones (before 1912) for sale. It seams to be in OK shape, with a little surface rust on the top metal plate and a small strip of wood missing from the side. Any info on this would be helpful. Thanks all!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Monday, December 23, 2013 - 01:31 pm:

Zack, you have a real problem attaching any great value to those coils for several reasons.

1. There is a very limited market for those early coils.

2. The size is slightly different.

3. They do not have a slide off side to access the insides.

4. The capacitor is always bad and need replacing.

5. The coil wiring is usually shorted.

6. Replacement points are very expensive.

Here are some photos.

Coil1

Coil2

Coil3


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zack bear on Monday, December 23, 2013 - 02:54 pm:

Yeah, I knew I wouldn't see a great deal of money out of it. I just wanted to see what kind of range it would fall into, (I was thinking about attempting to take it apart and refinish it as a decorative piece, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a model that was in demand or one that someone might be looking for.) thanks for the info!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Les Schubert on Monday, December 23, 2013 - 02:54 pm:

And besides even good Heinz coils are no good


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Monday, December 23, 2013 - 05:56 pm:

My photos were too large to transfer.

Here are some smaller ones.

Coil1


Coil2


Coil3


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Larry Smith on Monday, December 23, 2013 - 09:59 pm:

I think we need to get RV in on this one!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By R.V. Anderson on Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - 12:20 pm:

OK; I'm here. Zack, what you describe is the Heinze coil used in 1911. It can be rebuilt and made to function well. The capacitor will need replacing and almost certainly the points will also. Since only a fraction of the total number of Ts on the road today are the early brass era cars, the points for the Heinze and the other early coils are more expensive than the far more common KW type since they are hand made in small quantities and not punched out by the thousands.

Your coil is worth about $50-$75 as a rebuildable core (if the high tension winding is still good) because many early T owners with original Heinze setups are very happy with them, realizing that each make of early coil, and to some degree each coil unit, is a different breed of cat and must be treated differently from each other as well as from the common, later Ford/K-W coils. For instance, the last two coils made by Kingston are adjusted in exactly the opposite manner as the Heinze, Jacobson-Brandow, and even the 1909-10 Kingston coil. The adjusting ratchet on these is loosened, or backed off, in order to increase the primary's amperage draw. It make me wonder how many perfectly good units were tossed because later owners didn't realize this.

One Western owner today regularly drives Pike's Peak with his rebuilt original Heinze coils. Another owner in Florida has Heinze on all three of his early Ts and doesn't hesitate to hop into any one of them and take off cross-country. Ford didn't sell his first quarter million cars with defective ignitions!

If the high tension winding is open, the coil still has a junk value of about $25 if it's in otherwise good condition and the case needs no repair.

Hope this information is helpful for you.


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