123Ignition vs. armored coil

[Kitepirinha]

Hello everyone,
I'm Dirk and I'm new to the forum.
I hope someone can help me.

I have a TR4A (1965) with positive ground.

I bought an 123Ignition and noticed during installation that an armored ignition coil is installed in my car. This means that the cable that comes from the ignition lock is installed in an armored channel and goes from the interior to the ignition coil at the back.
My idea would be (since I don't particularly care about the armored coil) to try to cut the armored hose and lengthen the internal cable and connect it to a normal ignition coil.
Has anyone had any experience with this?
Many thanks for your help

Edited June 16, 2023 by Kitepirinha

[stuart]

Sounds as if that maybe a local market anti theft arrangement, dont see why you couldnt do what you propose just make sure you dont cut through the internal cable when doing so. Dont forget as your still on positive ground that the 123 is a positive ground unit. Also make sure you buy a suitable coil to suit the 123.

Stuart.

[Kitepirinha]

Hi Stuart,

thanks for your reply!
That’s exactly what it is, theft protection. But I think if they wanna steal the car they just tug it away. 
With the armored coil I really don’t know how to mount the 123IGN, as there’s no wire from the lock to the coil, except for the armored one. 
Also, if this one should break it seems difficult to get a new one. 
I found a hint in a Volvo forum how to mount an 123Ignition but it involves to mount a relay. As I said I’m neither an electrician nor is Volvo positive ground and my research didn’t show any results with an armored coil in an English car. 
So I’d really appreciate if somebody has had experience with this issue. 
Cheers

[RobH]

I guess you mean this:

https://www.skandix.de/en/documents/installation-guide/123ignition-distributor/3000187/

The relay looks to be a Volvo thing related to the way that starter switch works. It seems to switch off the normal supply during cranking, so the relay is necessary to route power to the 123 during that time since the only other connection is the one through the armoured cable. 

If you are doing away with the original armoured coil and splicing into the wire, the 123 needs to be powered from that as well as the new coil.

 

[Kitepirinha]

Hello RobH,

thanks for the link, I didn't find that yet.

I'll look into that but got to work now.

Cheers