They serve the same purpose but is was a bad idea in my opinion. The 261 used a firewall mount ballast resistor. Many trucks and cars used the ceramic ballast. Some used the internal resisted coil and some used a resistance length of wire. Both of the other ideas area a PITA. The extra windings in the bottom of the coil you have get hot and contribute to the overall coil heat/failure. Coils get hot. The ceramic version gets real real hot also, but it's out in the moving air and on ceramic. Lasts forever and easy to wire. Not many vehicles used the internal res. coil. Tractors, Chrysler....If you buy another coil, DO NOT buy the internally resisted type. For now, you should be OK.
1. Did you check all the wiring I mentioned yet?
2. You don't need to hook up VR or gen to start motor just for a test.
