Spark when key is turned to the off position?
also does the ballast resistor need to be mounted to the car as far as a ground? the resistor just kind of sits there and is not mounted but as far as I can remember its been like that. Could that be an issue?
It isn't grounded, but if it's just hanging by the wires, that can cause some issues.
If you have a ballast resistor with
4 connections, this sounds like the .5 ohm side of the ballast is burnt out (or broken) . This is a pretty typical failure for the symptoms you describe in your first post. Since your car is a '73, I would expect to see that type of ballast resistor.
What happens is when you turn the key to "start", the current runs through the .5 ohm side of the ballast. When you release the key and it goes to "run", you are using the 5 ohm side of the resistor.
So... If your ballast is just hanging by the wires, there's a good chance the resistor on the "start" side broke.
If you have a ballast resistor with only 2 connections, pay no attention to what I just typed.
