Hey guys I got a question about the ballast resistor. My Mustang has an aftermarket Mallory breakerless distributor in it. I was talking to a friend on the telephone today and he said that the ballast resistor isn't needed for a breakerless ignition. He said the ballast resistor was for the breaker type ignition system to keep from burning out the points. He says that it reduces voltage and current to the distributor thereby cutting down the amount of spark to the plugs. He says this can cause a car to miss fire at low RPM.
He almost had me sold when I got to thinking, doesn't the coil produce the voltage that goes to the spark plugs? Then I'm thinking, well resistors in series do cause a voltage drop. What effect does the ballast resistor have on a breakerless distributor? Do I still need it?
I've replaced mine once and am not totally confident in the PO's installation of the distributor. Anybody have any answers?
He almost had me sold when I got to thinking, doesn't the coil produce the voltage that goes to the spark plugs? Then I'm thinking, well resistors in series do cause a voltage drop. What effect does the ballast resistor have on a breakerless distributor? Do I still need it?
I've replaced mine once and am not totally confident in the PO's installation of the distributor. Anybody have any answers?