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Ballast resistor

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:22 pm
by Daveylozzy
I have question. I saw a thread on mmoc fb page about the ignition wire to the coil being ballasted.
Is this true?
(I have a high power coil and ‘electronic trigger’ distributor fitted at the mo) Any help much appreciated.
Thanks, Dave.

Re: Ballast resistor

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:45 pm
by Kilroy
To my knowledge, the ballast resistor was only used on the Mk3 Marinas and Itals, in conjunction with a 6 volt ignition coil.
The ballast resistor is mounted next to the coil on the inner guard, and is bypassed by the starter solenoid during starting to boost coil performance.
Often this involves use of a diode which prevents voltage backfeeding when the starter is not in use, but later solenoids had a seperate terminal provided for the bypass function.
I do not know of any use of ballast devices in these vehicles which were not rather obvious and highly visible.

Re: Ballast resistor

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:31 am
by david painter
Ballast Resistors were only fitted on O Series MK 3 cars. When the O Series was introduced in the Marina and Princess it suffered with poor cold starting. at first these were retrofitted in the dealers under warranty ( this would be known a quality enhancement today ) and then the factory as per kilroy's picture. Ballast resistors were introduced on A+ on Metro when a resistive wire was used less obvious to spot. To my knowledge these were never fitted to 1.3 Marina or Ital. My MK 3 1.3 Coupe has a 12 volt system i have fitted a Aldon Ignitor and taken the 12 volt feed straight from the coil
Dave

Re: Ballast resistor

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:23 am
by MarinaCoupe
My old ‘83 1.3 Pickup had a ballast resistor, at least until I bypassed it.

Re: Ballast resistor

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:31 am
by Daveylozzy
Thank you for the replies. Mine is a late very late 78 car and doesn’t have an obvious ballast resistor, like in the photo. I’ve recently switched to a 68d distributor from one of those modern points replacement Trigger systems you can buy. I had found that when the engine is hot the motor won’t rev above 2500 on a couple of occasions.
I have had issue with these before, hence why I asked about the ballast resistor. I haven’t taken the old car out for a spin to fully check that I’ve cleared the issue of (perhaps) faulty ignition. I don’t want to jump the gun & say for sure that it’s fixed.

Re: Ballast resistor

Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 9:38 am
by SLOW ITAL
MarinaCoupe wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:23 am My old ‘83 1.3 Pickup had a ballast resistor, at least until I bypassed it.
My 1980 O series had a resistor wire in engine bay harness, its pink & white, Like Chris & David i by~ passed it , i've gone Aldon Ignitor as well.
Gil...