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Well my 67 came in on the hook today. No spark. I am going to replace the module in the old unilite that failed a few years ago.
Please let me know how much voltage should be at the coil. If I should use a ballast resistor. The coil is also a unilte.
I confirmed no spark before calling AAA.
Thanks,
Scott
The resistance wire your car had stock was there to protect the points. It kept them from burning. I have never heard of any modern ignition system with a module needing anything other the the line voltage. 12.6 +/- .5v. Just remember no points, no resister
Not doing so with the Unilite will burn it up. Conversely running a resistor wire (8-9vdc) will burn up other HEI/Module distributors
You also want to match coil specific to the type/brand of HEI dizzy you have
OP, like any other part on any car, stuff fails. If you are repairing the Unilite, get a new coil for it also. A stock points distributor with a Pertronix unit or the whole small cap Pertronix distributor is another option but you will need to eliminate the resistor wire to coil (white cloth covered one) and run a #10 braided copper wire from IGN tap on fuse block to coil. Most people just tape the resistance wire back into the loom.
You can play with coils and voltage
I had a Ford E core coil (40kv) on my old 69 Z28 for a while
Ran that coil at12volts
Swapped back to points after several unilite module failures on the freeway
One Highway patrolman said I needed a tow truck
I had my points distributor with me
I told him I could fix it (swap distributors) before he could get a tow truck there
He said OKAY, I fixed it and drove away
Unilite dizzy is old stuff and problematic. Switch to a small cap HEI. The later model GM HEI dizzys with coil in cap don't fit without denting firewall so stick with a small cap dizzy. I use a Pertronix module in a stock points dizzy with external coil.
Well after a few hours of fun and misery (100 degrees around here these days) I was able to make the 67 run and even drive it home - vintage AC working perfectly! I repaired the Unilite and got it installed including the ballast resistor and diode wire from the starter and...no joy. I was thinking on what to try next and found an older Bosch coil laying around. I had used it to ohm test it to compare the numbers to others. I decided to give it a go and the car started right up. Bad Mallory coil 29219 - that's a 1st for me. It's running better than in quite awhile. The distributor that I removed was one of those A Team distributors (not installed by me) and it must be ok. I'll save as a spare. Thank you for the ideas!