It is very hard to measure <2 ohm accurately. With a standard 2-wire ohmmeter (most multimeters), always short the 2 leads to get the "lead resistance" and subtract. Laboratories use the better 4-wire "Kelvin method", which you find on some benchtop multimeters. Even then, you need to sand corrosion from the terminals. In addition, the ballast resistor's change resistance as they heat up (by design, to help limit coil current at low rpm). You also allude to the important issue of how the terminals and wiring adds series resistance. Those here who changed to an HEI module (GM, Pertronix II, ...) and an e-core coil just strive to get full BATT+ voltage wired to the module and coil, since the module regulates the coil current (as Kit stated). That was a late-1970's innovation, but the Mopar version was integral with the notorious "lean burn" spark boxes.
