I installed the points distributor in my 71 98 and got it to run. My coil is 1.8-2 ohms. I have a 1.82 ohm Moroso ballast resistor.

I think I installed the distributor 1 tooth advanced. While idling I had to dial back my timing light 50* to see the timing mark (with the vacuum advance disconnected). I set the dwell to 30* and read 11.3 volts on the coil.

I have to restab the distributor before I set the timing properly. When the engine was idling the resistor smoked. Even though it was running it wasn't idling too well. I couldn't retard the distributor enough to see the timing mark before the vacuum advance hit the intake manifold. Thoughts... 🤔

 

Why are you using a ballast resistor? Is the resistor wire gone?

 

The coil for a points ignition system should be about 3 ohms. The ballast resistor needs to be sized to get about 9v at the + terminal of the coil.

 

The resistor wire is gone. I switched back to points from HEI. I'm using the same 12V feed I used for the HEI distributor into the ballast resistor. The coil is a new AC Delco from RA. I could always check my OE coil too.