The ballast resistance (and 6v coil fitted to all RB cars) is a length of
pink (usually) resistance wire contained within the loom, white/brown at the
fusebox end and white/light-green at the coil end on the +ve terminal. To
bypass it run a wire from the white/brown terminal on the fusebox to the +ve
terminal of the Pertronix, which would normally go to the coil +ve, but not
in this case. That will allow you to continue to use the 6v coil and boost
voltage during cranking, which is no bad thing.
An alternative is to replace the 6v coil with a 12v coil (approx 3 ohms
primary resistance), connect the Pertronix +ve to the coil +ve, and run the
bypass wire to the coil +ve as well. You can leave the white/light-green
connected, it will do no harm. However that will disable the coil boost
voltage during cranking, which can be the difference between starting and
not starting under marginal conditions.
I'm not sure what your ribbed metallic thingy is, unless someone has added
another ballast resistance at some stage. To check, before you remove the
points, turn on the ignition and with the points closed measure the voltage
at the coil +ve and each side of this thing. I'd be interested to know what
the readings are. Normally I'd expect to see about 6v on the
white/light-green at the coil +ve under the above conditions.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith G." <k2@gernertzone.com>
To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 12:40 PM
Subject: Ignition ballast -- where is it?
> What does the ballast resistor look like? Pertronix's description of
> a typical one being a white ceramic piece a few inches long does not
> seem to match anything I see under the hood. However, there is a
> long ribbed metallic piece mounted on one side of the coil's bracket.
> It has a white wire with a green stripe attached to both ends. The
> wires on both sides of this thing disappear into the wiring loom, so
> I can't tell exactly where they go. There are same-colored wires
> attached to one side of the coil, so I'm assuming they are part of
> the same circuit, if not the exact same wires.
>
> If that ribbed metallic thingy is the ballast, is it OK to just
> disconnect the wires on either side of it and splice them together?
> If that is not he ballast resistor, then just what is?
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