A little more on ballast resisters: The wire from the starter to the coil, typically supplies 12 volts only when the starter is engaged. Once the engine starts, it runs on the power supplied by the ignition switch. When the industry switched from 6 volt to 12 volt systems, they installed a ballast resister between the ignition switch and the coil to cut down the amount of voltage supplied to the distributor and coil. Apparently, a full 12 volts going thru the points burned them up prematurely, so they added a resister to cut the voltage down a bit (approximately 9 volts).
In your case, a previous owner (or shop) did not understand how the system worked and thought they could eliminate the ballast resister by using a resistance coil. In theory this works and some owners have done this and have no issues especially if you live in a warm temperature. I, who live in the north, want that extra voltage when I start my truck in cold temperatures.
Your in good hands with bartamos guiding you thru your issue but I just wanted to give you more information so you could make an educated decision as to reverting back to the ballast resister system or keeping what you have!
