Mopar electronic ignition with 1.5 ohm flame thrower coil

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Flyinbrian72duster

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I have the pertronix system in my old points distributor so my ballast is eliminated when I install the mopar setup do I need the ballast if not I have three loose wires instructions say green wire is not used black goes to coil ground and blue to ignition run on ballast where would I route the blue wire or do I need a ballast again
 
Ballast is for the coil, if the coil says run 12 volt....skip the ballast. Run blue to + coil or what ever the instructions say to hook it to. FYI some coils require resistance feed to keep them from overheating, mostly stock.
 
Just use a spade, pull the blue off the ballast and plug soade lead wire into it and run that to your coil.

Or... pull both off the ballast for the coil feed and just tie them together. Which ever you like.
Yea my ballast is allready eliminated the question was did I need one if not where should I route blue wire
 
I actually don't know how well a Chrysler 4 pin ECU will last run at 14 Volts.
So you need to check both the coil mfc recommendations and the amplifier's.
 
I have the pertronix system in my old points distributor so my ballast is eliminated when I install the mopar setup do I need the ballast if not I have three loose wires instructions say green wire is not used black goes to coil ground and blue to ignition run on ballast where would I route the blue wire or do I need a ballast again

There are 4 wires AND GROUND FOR THE BOX,

1....Two wires go to the distributor
2....The ECU box MUST be grounded. Scrape around the firewall and box mounting holes, consider using dielectric grease, and use star lock washers
3....One wire (black?) goes to coil NEG. THAT IS NOT GROUND. It is coil switching, takes the job of the breaker points
4....Power goes to the "high" side of the ballast in other words "ignition run"

Unless the coil you are using specifically says "no ballast" run whatever ballast is recommended with whatever coil you have
 
OP, can you give us a coil PN? The Flamethrower 1.5 ohm coil normally DOES use the standard mopar ballast. You can substitute the MSD ballast and be pretty close.

Which year A body please? If you provide that, then a complete description of connections can be made.
 
OP, can you give us a coil PN? The Flamethrower 1.5 ohm coil normally DOES use the standard mopar ballast. You can substitute the MSD ballast and be pretty close.

Which year A body please? If you provide that, then a complete description of connections can be made.
71 dart 318 coil part # 40011 I allready hooked it up without ballast and all seems fine but its raining her not going out in it
 
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I remember those instructions...... not sure I can find that again but I'll look. IIRC the removal of the ballast applies ONLY for when you use that coil with their Ignitor system. The issue will be if that standard type canister coil burns out with no ballast ..... the ballast is the current limiting element in the system; other ignition do that differently to get by with no ballast.

I put one of those 40011 coils in a stock points system and made sure the ballast was still there. The Mopar ignition works just like a set of points....

FWIW, from the stock schematic, the loose brown wire goes from one end of the ballast to the coil + and the blue goes to the other end of the ballast.

Rain is understood!
 
I remember those instructions...... not sure I can find that again but I'll look. IIRC the removal of the ballast applies ONLY for when you use that coil with their Ignitor system. The issue will be if that standard type canister coil burns out with no ballast ..... the ballast is the current limiting element in the system; other ignition do that differently to get by with no ballast.

I put one of those 40011 coils in a stock points system and made sure the ballast was still there. The Mopar ignition works just like a set of points....

FWIW, from the stock schematic, the loose brown wire goes from one end of the ballast to the coil + and the blue goes to the other end of the ballast.

Rain is understood!
So you're saying I should hook the ballast back up
 
Yes, that is what I would recommend for coil durability; the Mopar electronic system used a ballast with the same style of canister coil and and the same 1.5 ohm coil primary resistance. (BTW, I am going from memory on why I decided that was the right way to do it with this coil; I can't find my set of those instructions to double-check.)

Make sure it is a Mopar OEM ballast or an MSD one with 0.8 ohm cold resistance. Many other ballasts have too high a resistance.
 
Yes, that is what I would recommend for coil durability; the Mopar electronic system used a ballast with the same style of canister coil and and the same 1.5 ohm coil primary resistance. (BTW, I am going from memory on why I decided that was the right way to do it with this coil; I can't find my set of those instructions to double-check.)

Make sure it is a Mopar OEM ballast or an MSD one with 0.8 ohm cold resistance. Many other ballasts have too high a resistance.
So adding the ballast will help protect the coil
 
IIRC the removal of the ballast applies ONLY for when you use that coil with their Ignitor system.
That would make sense.
The Ignitor system probably incorporates current control to the coil. HEI modules do that too.

More is not always better. Most of the tricks related to coils are used to overcome the problems with racing. At high rpms (5000 plus) traditional igntions don't have enough don't have enough time to bring the coil's induced field to maximum strength. Longer dwell, higher voltage, different coil ratios are all in the bag tricks for drag racing.

All the engine needs is enough spark voltage to jump the gap of the spark plug, and then enough current to grow the kernel. The rest of the burn is on its own.
Flowing more electricity through a coil than needed just makes it hotter.
A ballast resistor or reistor wire was the simple way to match and control the electricity.
HEI, and much later EEC, had current limiting electronic circuits.
 
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