ballast resistor question

[Gromski]

I have 4.96 volts at the coil+ with a 1.3ohm ballast resistor and 7.3 volts with .5ohm ballast resistor.The .5ohm resistor is new the 1.3 ohm
resistor came with the MP electronic conversion kit.The .5 started smoking when I first installed
it is this the resistor to go with to achieve 7+
volts at the coil+ Is 7+ volts necessary??????Is 4.96 at the coil+ enough, it's all new to me just trying to understand it.This is with the key in the run,on position. Car runs now fresh plugs fresh wires,I roasted a couple of the other ones breaking in the cam it was the timing.

[Dart]

I would jump the balast resistor and upgrade the coil to a '87 2.2 turbo coil. The balast resistor in the points (old) set up is there to reduce the voltage across the points thereby increasing their life. With the electronic distributor you don't need to do that since there aren't points to contend with. That will give you 12volts across the air pickup instead of 6volts. The signal across the air pickup will be stronger, and the accuracy of the pickup will be better. The 2.2 turbo coil is epoxy filled, is hotter and can handle more heat. The coil wire plug in on the coil is a post type, but you can sometimes remove that by unscrewing a small screw in the top of the coil. If you can't remove the post, just bend the coil wire to fit around the post.

Another cool thing is to buy the electronic box adaptor from a C-body. It is a small U shaped bracket that bolts to the firewall or fenderwell underneath the control box. Mount it where conveinient and then mount the control box to it. This elimates the possibility of stripping the body mounting holes when you have to remove the box for testing etc.

I have done these mods on my Dart with a Chrome box and the ignition is really hot. You could also use an aftermarket coil, but the 2.2 turbo one is cheaper ($15) and is really hot.