I rewired my 1967 mustang with a new harness from Painless and the instructions say to connect the wire between the ignition switch and coil to a "ballast resistor". I checked some older threads and see that the original wire from the ignition to coil was a resistor wire that added an ohm or two of resistance, but there was no ballast resistor in the original design. I assume since Painless refers to it that the wire furnished with their harness is not a resistor wire.
My question is does some parts supplier sell such a resistor? I don't see one in NPD or Cal Mustang. Do I need to salvage my old harness to get the old wire? What will happen if I connect the coil direct from the ignition?
The painless kit has been pretty good. Every wire is numbered and most have the termination lug already attached. There is a good set of instructions broken down by each section, and it includes a table that lists every wire, where it starts, and where it ends.
I got mine online through Summit, which was cheaper than going straight to Painless. It's still pretty pricey at about $700. But in the end basically every wire in the car is replaced.
It's still takes a lot of time and effort to do the replacement. Some tight spaces under the dash. But it was way easier than I thought it might be and now my electrical system is no longer a mystery to me like it was before I did it.
The original resistor wire was 60" long and 1.4ohms. Any NAPA dealer should have the ballast resistor. Mounting location is a pain as it puts off heat on the open backside and needs to be kept dry.
Why not just upgrade the ignition system and remove the points. Pertronix sells a killer kit when paired with their coil. You wont have to bother with mounting and drilling a resistor in place. The ride runs better too..
The ballast resistors sold by both NPD and NAPA are pink wires that are 5 feet long. There is no drilling and no getting hot problems just like there wasn't any with the original pink resistor wires.
I used the original holes in the firewall. Painless provides two replacement grommets and they both worked well -- one for the "headlight" harness that is the main harness down the driver side of the engine compartment and one for the "engine" harness that goes to the neutral switch and coil. There is a third penetration with the heater / blower wires that they did not provide a grommet for, but I reused the original grommet with no problem.
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