Ballast resister?

[Crazy4408pac]

I'm taking the 440 from my Charger and putting it into my 72 Swinger. It uses an orange box and Mopar perf. Elect dist. It came with a 4 pin resister.
Just read an article on the Mopar Muscle web site, that states that if I have electronic ingn/distr. I don't need the ballast resister.
What are your thoughts on this?
And, if I don't need it, how would I bypass it?
Here's the link to the article.
Thanks

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/body/mopp_1110_ballast_resistor_guide_ballast_blast_off/index.html

 

[67Dart273]

Depending on the box and the coil you MIGHT get away with this and you MIGHT be sitting on the side of the road, sayin' "whut?"

So far as 2/ 4 terminal resistor, this depends on what / how old your ECU is. Some 4 pin ECUs have 5 pins, so the only way to tell is to use an ohm meter on the 5th pin to the other pins and the case, and find out if it's a "dummy" pin.

5 pin ECUs MUST use 4 terminal resistors

4 pin ECUS CAN use EITHER 2 or 4 terminal resistors

Seems to me these guys ALWAYS know better than the engineers who designed 'em did

I do run a GM HEI module with no ballast, but I ALSO kept a hand on the coil every 10 minutes the first time I ran it for any length of time, and also the first really hot day.

 

[dgc333]

Re-Read the article; they state the coil life will be compromised.

If you purchase a coil that is designed to run with full battery voltage you can without worrying about shortening the life span of the coil.

 

[BillGrissom]

This question has come up before, and the link to the magazine article. I think the orange box might die if you install a low-resistance coil and no ballast resistor. If you try it, bring along a spare orange box (should anyway since they die even w/ ballast). This may be an opportune time to switch to HEI ignition. You could wire a 4-pin HEI module, but probably as cheap and better is to buy a "ready to run" distributor off ebay for ~$45. Check skipwhiteperformance and others. There is an RB model. Also get an e-core coil, either skip's, Holley, or one from a Magnum engine.