In the process of restoring my car, I replicated the original wiring harness. I do not remember seeing a ballast resistor, even though the wiring diagram shows one. Do I need one, and if so what ohm should it be?

 

Pretty sure GM was using a resistance wire in the coil circuit in lieu of an external ballast by that time. It may depend on whether car has alternator or generator.

If no resistance wire (look for a pink or white cloth-covered section of wire in coil (+) wiring), you want one that will drop coil (+) voltage down to about 7-9 volts while running.

 

I am using a generator. The shop manual shows the yellow/black wire connected to the Ignition #1 teminal on the ignition switch with the resistor installed inline before the yellow/black wire attaches to the coil. The black wire connected to the Ignition #2 terminal on the ignition switch connects straight to the same terminal on the coil. I am missing the resistor in the yellow/black wire that connects to the coil.
I see them for sale with various ohm values for about $8.00.

 

Why would it matter if you had an alternator or generator???? Anyways the correct answer is that the '62's used a ballast resistor that was mounted on the firewall. If you could care less about originality, the MSD coil has a resistor included in the kit..DO NOT QUOTE ME, but i think its 1.7 ohms. About $32 for the coil and resistor

 

The Lectriclimited faq says that the 1966 and under ballast resistor or resistance wire is 1.6 ohms, 1967 and up 1.3 ohms.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Hi, Forget about the ballast resistor. Install a petronix electronic ignition.
It does not hurt the originality of the car, but it does run sooo much BETTER. Won't have to mess with the points again. I installed a dummy
resister on my show cars and no one knows the difference.
rocketlover

 

Where do people get their information from??? YOU STILL NEED A BALLAST RESISTOR so you dont burn up the module for when you install it in place of the points!!

 

Two things. First, the 1962 Chassis Service Manual clearly states that the resistor wire is built into the harness. There is no external resistor.

Second, the following is a direct quote from the Pertronix installation instructions:

You can read the instructions yourself here:

http://www.pertronix.com/support/man...itor12vneg.pdf

 

A Pertronix will run on the resistance wire, but it runs a lot better on full 12V. Mallory Unilites and Jacobs electronic ignitions usually want to run at about 7 volts for module protection.

My 62 shop manual is a Sept 61 printing and it indicates the coil resistor is incorporated in the wiring harness instead of the 1961 style external ballast. There's some stuff in the Service Guilds about the midyear change to Delcotron but it doesn't go into anything on the coil wiring.

 

Thanks 59 59 59, Glad you caught my post. Was thinking about one application and writing about another DUHHHH.
Rocketlover