Thread: For Don Shilady

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Totally understand now. I think at one time or another we have all been taken by someone.
The good news, there is a wealth of information and knowledge on this site by a group that loves to share. I'm sure if you bring your ideas to them they will help you sort it all out before you get taken again.

GM BALLAST RESISTOR?
I am going through a new frustration with a wobbling plastic magnet disk in a Pertronix setup using a converted 1974 Chevy distributor due to a lack of firewall clearance for a HEI distributor. The Pertronix Tech says the wobble in the plastic disk is caused by tightening the mounting screw on the top and my dizzy shaft rotates freely so I believe it to be straight. I am about to convert to a Crane XR1 kit but the Crane Tech says I need a 1.5 ohm ballast resistor which I have not used up till now. The Pertronix instructions are ambiguous regarding the ballast resistor as documented by many other Internet sites. My question here is that the pink wire in my "It's-A-Snap" wiring harness may/may not be a resistor wire? I chose the It's-A-Snap harness for two reasons: the labeled wires AND a phone number to an technical advisor but now the company is out of business. I called the Speedway tech and he says their harness has a pink coil (+) wire that is just a copper wire NOT a resistor wire. Does anyone on this Forum know whether the "It's-A-Snap" pink coil (+) wire is a resistance wire? How has my Pertronix kit worked without it using only a 1.5 ohm coil? The coil is presently erratic and probably close to failing due to the lack of a ballast resistor? I bought a ceramic 1.6 ohm ballast resistor but wonder where to mount it since it may get really hot and even smoke at first. I am just pondering/planning to mount it to the frame of the car for a heat sink. The Crane instructions are clear and I wonder how my 1.5 ohm coil lasted till now. The Crane tech insists there needs to be a ballast resistor anywhere from 1.2 to 1.9 ohms in the "run" circuit with the full 12 volts only in the "start" branch to the coil (+). I have been reading many, many other tech articles on this topic of the ballast resistor and I am now about ready for the Crane XR1 installation after finalizing the site of the resistor. Comparison to Ford Bronco and many other Ford models shows that Ford has used an insulated resistor wire for many years. How did GM handle the need for a ballast resistor before the HEI distributor came out? I need to study the connections to my spring-loaded key start from Speedway. Maybe there is an internal resistor in there but if so it would get hot, right? Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientit/teen rodder