Resistor wire & balast resistor

[kmul221]

My 63 GT now has pertronix ignition & a Delco distributor,it's not burning all the fuel like the spark is weak & I hear a pop-pop in the exhaust system.I left on the pink resistor wire.A knowlegable hot rodder told me to remove the resistor wire as it is not needed with pertronix & actually impedes it's operation power-wise.Is this true & does it also apply to balast resistor equipt cars.
This thing is a pig on fuel & I'me looking at everything to get decent milage.Anybody else tried this? Input appreciated

[Bud]

The resistor won't cause your engine to miss. Pertronix says that you can remove the ballast resistor if you use one of their coils. I don't buy that as I've had a 57 T Bird and a Studebaker towed in in recent history because the coil had overheated and failed. I checked the Pertronix ignition in my 62 Hawk with and without the resistor and the output voltage from the coil was only about 5 kilo volts higher without the resistor rather than with it. I don't believe that a stock or fairly stock Stude engine knows the difference. Be sure to check the gap between the reluctor under the cap and the Pertronix unit as too wide of a gap can cause misfiring. Bud

[gearhead49]

When I installed the Pertronix unit and Flamethrower coil in my Lark I ended up running a new wire and eliminating the resistor wire. Everytime the weather would be hot the car ran lousy. I found the voltage was getting lower when the weather got hotter like in the high 80's. Worked for me and have had no problems since.

[Stu Duglee]

I installed a Mallory/Uni-lite distributor from Dave Thiebault , in-line ballast resistor ,new modern coil & good wires in my 63 GT.I'm gapping my plugs at .045 & getting 20mpg average city/hwy but I drive it often with lots of hwy runs.

[Bredehoft]

... I checked the Pertronix ignition in my 62 Hawk with and without the resistor and the output voltage from the coil was only about 5 kilo volts higher without the resistor rather than with it...

not to be rude, Bud, but people may be misled - I think you have used the wrong quantitative prefix on your voltage. KILO means THOUSANDS, milli means THOUSANDTHS ...

5 volts
5 kilovolts = 5,000 volts
5 millivolts = .005 volts

with 5 kilovolts, you might need a fence around the car and "Warning - High Voltage" signs (just kidding)!

--george

[Bud]

You're right, I should have said 5,000 volts higher coil output without the resistor and I did mean kilo volts as kilo means thousand. I have an engine analyzer and I checked the coil output with the scope. Bud