Ballast resistor

[Jeff G 78]

Can I run my late '74 without a ballast resistor if I upgrade the coil, or will it fry the pick up coil and/or transistor ignition unit? From what I've read, the coil can't handle the extra power, so I will replace that with a Crane Fireball or something similar. This is for the LeMons car and I'm out of time to try to find the source of the problem. If I can't figure it out soon, I need to remove the resistor. The resistor checks out fine, but the only way I can get decent voltage to the resistor is to disconnect the "start" wire to it. When I do that, I get 12.5V, at both ends of the resistor and at the coil. With everything hooked up, I get 10.3V to the resistor and 2.5V to the coil. With either the "start" wire OR starter wire unplugged, I get 12.5V, but the resistor doesn't know the voltage down. I WILL keep looking, but I need to move on very soon.

[five&dime]

I am no electrical genius but I upgraded my 510 to a coil with internal ballast resistor to get rid of the external. I am also running a Crane XR700 ignition system. Everything works great!

Curious if the alternator has anything to do with it. I am also running an IR later model Nissan alt.

Edited September 24, 2009 by five&dime