Why a Resistor?

[aussie merc]

multiple answers lowering the voltage will make the coil last longer but that depends on coil design also the resistor design the factory coil resistor has 0 resistance when not in use and this increases as usage continuse so when you cold start your actualy feeding a 4 volt coil 6 volts but due to crank loads cold weather ageing battery etc its lucky to get 4 see where this is going full voltage on crank also when running your actualy supplying 8 volts to the resistor so that needs control theres a lot of engineering in that ignition system so leave it alone unless you want to rework the entire thing change 1 thing create 7 more problems