yes, toss the resistor, but I'd check the numbers on the coil to see if it's 6V - there's a bunch of numbers listed here that specify 6V, and later ones do specify 12V - might be worth the few bucks to get a correct new one

sounds like you may have a poor ground, or maybe something grounded that shouldn't be, that's running the battery down - if you don't have a shop manual with wiring diagram, there's one here

Bill

Moved over to the Passing Lane

"When we tug a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world" ~ John Muir
"When we tug a single thing on an old truck, we find it falls off" ~ me
Some TF series details & TF heater pics