In all due respect I think you are wrong about "what the ballast resistor is for" I always thought it was to keep the points from burning out. And I still think that. But now that I give it a little more thought, they did still use them for electronic ignition. So maybe im incorrect? MT
The condenser is what you may be thinking of that helps keep the points from burning up. Often when a condenser opens up, you get rapid metal transfer from one side of the point to the other and the points get all messed up.