[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by MatthewKlein

I have a distributor that needs a new one... ...Trying to find an original part and so far they are all chevy.

Swapping the chevy one it is a bad idea?

Swapping a Chevy (yellow color-code) pickup coil into a Pontiac (white/clear, or no color code) is a bad idea. Among other problems, the wires are probably too short.

Go to ANY PARTS STORE IN AMERICA, order a pickup coil for your engine (or distributor). Stand there at the parts counter, take it out of the box, and verify that it has a clear/white, or NO color coded connector or tywrap on the wires. That should be correct for a PONTIAC application. These vehicles are getting old, but parts like this are still available.

Originally Posted by Formulas

I would like to know what the module does with the pole piece input, Does it use it as just a switch and if so how does polarity effect a switching on or off operation
Or does the module amplify the pole signal and the module cannot amplify a + when its expecting a - input at a certain time

I always viewed the module as sort of a relay using ultra low voltage created by pole piece to switch a higher power input to the coil to create the secondary circuit to create spark

Originally Posted by tc

That's a good question. DUI sells one module to be used on different brand engines ( Pontiac, Chevy, etc. ) and wouldn't these engines would have different pickup coil polarity. Looks like they have one coil for different brand engine HEI's. It's confusing.

Do not confuse MAGNETIC polarity with ELECTRICAL polarity. The magnetic polarity is different among engine families to reject RFI/EMP interference. The electrical polarity is the same at the module.

The module is the same for all engines. Even 4-pin four- and six-poppers. The module does not care which color-code the pickup coil is, because the White wire is attached to W, and the Green wire is attached to G no matter which pickup coil is being used.

There are crappy modules, and there are "high-performance" modules, and there's the good ol' reliable GM 990 module which may or may not be as good as what was being sold twenty+ years ago. But all 4-pin modules--good, or crappy--are intended to work with any color-code pickup coil. The module does not know the difference. (Because, electrically, there IS NO difference in the signal delivered to the module.)

The pickup coil output is a gradual voltage increase towards + voltage, a SUDDEN voltage decrease past "0" volts and into negative voltage, then another gradual voltage increase across "0" voltage into positive voltage. The SUDDEN voltage decrease across "0" voltage triggers the module to UN-ground the coil. That collapses the magnetic field of the coil, causing the spark.

As the pickup coil voltage begins to build toward + voltage, the module grounds the ignition coil allowing current flow through the primary windings, rebuilding the magnetic field in the ignition coil, and the process repeats. The module has additional circuitry to limit maximum current flow, along with variable-dwell circuitry which I'm not going to get into here.

So--dramatically simplified--the module acts as a relay, using the pickup coil signal as a trigger.

As for the different MAGNETIC polarity ignition coils...I have no idea. They exist, GM thought they were useful/needed, but no-one has been able to explain why, and I'm not bright enough to guess. Just like pickup coils, the MAGNETIC polarity is opposite, the ELECTRICAL polarity is EXACTLY THE SAME. MSD also sells only one version of in-cap ignition coil (Red and yellow--Chevy, Cadillac, Olds Toronado.) I don't think this is confusing, I think it's cost-cutting, inventory-reduction, and--maybe--ignorance/defiance/dontgiveashiit.

I'd use an in-cap coil with red and white wires on a Pontiac, because that's what GM specifies.

If you are not using an in-cap ignition coil, the magnetic polarity of the EXTERNAL coil does not matter.