electrical and ignition Coils: Bosch black vs blue vs red. And the winner is...?

[RAS-2002]

I know there have been many postings over the years dealing with this. I've pored over them, and found many things, some seemingly definitive, some seemingly confusing. So please accept my apologies for flogging this poor, unfortunate topic some more.

 

From what I can see, I don't think this specific question has been asked and answered:

Whether using points or electronic ignition...

And assuming that the correct ballast resistor is used: black: 0.9 ohms, blue: none, red: 1.8 ohms

And assuming that the correct plug gap is used: black: .024-.028", blue .030-.035", red: .040-.045"

Question: "Which Bosch coil gives the best performance: (stock) black, blue, or red?"

 

Has anyone ever done any actual performance comparisons?

Is there any actual benefit? Or, as it has been suggested, it's all Bosch marketing hype?

 

As for me, when I found out I was erroneously running a Bosch Blue with a ballast (thanks FAQ!), I did notice that my car (a '72 non-tii '02, with IE tii dizzy and blue coil) started and ran better after I bypassed the 0.9 ohm ballast, but I'm curious to know if anyone has ever played around with actually comparing the performance of all three coils, etc.

 

Thanks,

-Bob

 

(I'll be driving Schatzi to the BMW Vintage at Saratoga on Sat July 11. I'm leaving from Orange County NY, early Sat morning. If anyone from the NY/NJ/CT area is heading up, maybe we can organize a fl02tilla...)

 

 

[Stevenc22]

On a stock motor there is probably no noticeable difference between the coils if they are all setup correctly.

[JohnS]

If you find a NOS Bosch red coil that's actually red in color, they look the coolest   

 

Here's one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fits-1965-1969-Porsche-Ignition-Coil-BOSCH-0221119050-00035-NEW-/391065594208?hash=item5b0d536960&vxp=mtr

 

One advantage of the Black and the Red coils are that they get the boost for easier starting when the ballast resistor get bypassed. 

Edited July 2, 2015 by JohnS

[RAS-2002]

Thanks Steve; as usual, FAQ comes through with the answers; short and sweet.

And I agree with John - the red coil does look the coolest!

But I guess it's more for 'show', and not much more 'go'... oh, well.

At least now I know.

Later,

-Bob

[jrhone]

Just went through this…Black and red coil are the best in terms of power output, i.e hotter spark.  The difference in properly working setups?  Well since there is 40 year old wiring, distributors, and marginal grounds in a lot of cars, I would bet that its rare that an 02 is running at its optimum, so the slight difference between red and black wouldn't be noticed because of deficiencies in other areas.  I put a "hotter" aftermarket coil in my car and went back to the stock black coil because I LOST some performance.  I'm not sure that the coil wasn't bad, but it was noticeable.  If you want hotter spark, you should probably be looking at entire MSD system or better.  That will be an upgrade.  Just the coil…probably not.

[AustrianVespaGuy]

I vote blue just because it's the simplest.  Easy to find, throw a fine spark, and no weird crap with ballast resistors and whatnot.  Best bang-for-your-buck/fire-and-forget option.

[JohnS]

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/articles.html/_/technical-articles/electrical-and-ignition/ignition-coil-myths-busted-r52