Two Times Can't be a Coincidence...Dart not Firing

Bill Crowell said

... try connecting a wire with alligator clips at both ends from the positive battery terminal to the positive terminal of the coil primary, just to rule out the possibility that the coil is not getting power. Don't let the coil operate at full battery voltage for any length of time.

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Always a good check. I had to do that to drive my 64 Valiant home after buying it. The key switch wiring was gomer'ed up, w/ individual spade lugs falling off. It still had points. I first ran a wire straight from BAT+ to coil+. It started and ran fine, but after ~5 minutes starting missing bad as I tried accelerating past 40 mph. The coil was too hot to touch and smelled of melting paint. I then jumpered thru the ballast resistor and no more problems. When cranking, the ballast is similarly bypassed, but you can't run long that way.