Re: ballast resister

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

On Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:20:26 -0800, you wrote:

>Running a point distributor is no problem.  IH used a resistance wire to
>bring the voltage down to about 9 volts.  Add a ballast resistor to do
>the same and you should be set.  Have you considered using the pickup in
>the electronic distributor alone to trigger your MSD?  Has anyone else
>tried using just the pickup in the electronic to trigger an aftermarket
>spark box?

I found that the ballast resistor is a normal tune-up part available at
local auto parts stores, so I picked one up just in case I ever need it (in
case my MSD system fails).

Unfortunately Rob you cannot use the "pickup" in the Holley electronic
distributor as a trigger for any aftermarket ignition system I'm aware of.
The problem lies in the fact that the "pickup" in said distributor is *not*
a magnetic pickup at all.  It's actually better described as a metal
detector.  A small AC voltage is applied to this sensor from the Holley
"gold box" and read to trigger the ignition system.  As a result,
aftermarket ignition system must be triggered off the output of the Holley
gold box instead.

I had a problem with the whole idea of running the Holley system *just* to
trigger the MSD system... seemed sort of overly complicated and prone to
failure.  That's why I went back to a point type distributor.  It works
wonderfully!

Another alternative is to install something like a Pertronix system into a
point type distributor and use the Pertronix output to trigger the
aftermarket system instead.  This again seems a little like overkill and
overcomplication to me, but it does have the effect of eliminating having
to gap and replace points, which isn't much of a problem when running an
MSD anyway.

Regards,

John
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