Steve,
That Flamethrower coil must be drawing quite a bit of current, more than a
standard coil or the 8.5 amperes Pertronix says is correct. Theo says that
0.05 Ohms is "less than 10% of the claimed resistance of the Flamethrower
coil", which means it's at least 0.5 Ohms. If it's 1.0 Ohms, that means it
draws 12-14 Amperes and dissipates about 150 Watts, or at least it would if
you left the ignition on and the points were closed (solid state points may
well be 'normally closed', i.e., on when not running). I'm not sure why Theo
needs to use such a low resistance, since any reasonably small resistor will
work. The accuracy of the resistor is the key and together with Ohms law,
the resistance and current can be calculated (you do need to use an
oscilloscope because the current isn't DC). Anyway, Pertronix says 1.5 Ohms
is about right for a coil running at 12V (nominal) and 8.5 amperes is the
maximum current draw shorted to ground and will be a lot less with the
engine running. This would not be enough current to get the white wire at
all warm.
The need for extra loops at the tach must be caused by some mischief in the
waveform because there is obviously at least as much average current drawn
with the Pertronix coil. Maybe a capacitor to ground would help - but that's
is a separate subject not related to your intermittent problem. Let's assume
that Theo is right and you have an intermittent short. Where could it be?
What did you do with the white/blue wire that goes to the starter solenoid?
Is it still connected to the coil and starter solenoid or did you disconnect
it and tape the ends well so it won't short to ground? If there are no loose
ends that might be shorting out, I guess there must be an intermittent short
somewhere between the ignition switch and the tach, between the tach and the
coil, or even between the coil and distributor. I would start by checking
between the coil and distributor, especially inside the distributor where
you connect to the points.
Good luck,
Bob Palmer
rpalmer@ucsd.edu
robertpalmer@paulhastings.com
rpalmerbob@adelphia.net
|