I just got a new coil for my 352, and the one that was on there says internal resistor. The one they gave me at the parts place is external, which seems to be right. I'm getting ready to upgrade to pertronix and keep the coil i just bought, so i need to know what the resistor is for. Is it to keep the coil from getting a full 12 volts and burning up, or to keep the points from burning up. If it's to keep the coil from burning up wouldn't you have to leave it in place even with the pertronix? I know the pertronix needs a full 12 volts so could i splice at the beginning and the end of the resistor wire and bypass it?

Thanks
Nate

 

Yes you can. I ran a new wire directly from the battery to a switch inside the cab. This ensures a good wire is feeding everything and makes her a little harder to steal.

 

>I'm getting ready to upgrade to pertronix and keep the coil i
>just bought, so i need to know what the resistor is for. Is
>it to keep the coil from getting a full 12 volts and burning
>up, or to keep the points from burning up.

Yes to both. Did you know that the typical stock coil is really rated for only 6 volts? They are a carry-over from the old 6 volt systems. 12 volts will overheat the coil and points weren't meant to carry that much current for very long.

>If it's to keep the coil from burning up wouldn't you have to leave it in place even with the pertronix?

Yes, if the coil needs an external resistor, it still needs one with the conversion.

>I know the pertronix needs a full 12 volts so could i splice at the beginning and the end of the resistor wire and bypass it?

Yes but you still need the resistor wire for the stock coil. Check out this link, the Galaxie guys got it figured out:

http://www.galaxieclub.com/petronix.html


Barry

 

The resistor is to keep your points from burning up. They get too hot if you don't have either a resistor or a resistor wire. You still have to run the resistor if you convert to Petronix. I just did the swap this weekend. Your stock coil has no resistance, the Petronix unit requires at least 1.5 ohms resistance. Thus the reason for the resistor.