testing for the existence of ballast resistor in my car

[pistonbroke]

On the 41 pickup its on the firewall under the rivers side dash. To bypass it simply place both wires on one stud. Tim

[hueyhoolihan]

Originally Posted by pistonbroke

On the 41 pickup its on the firewall under the rivers side dash. To bypass it simply place both wires on one stud. Tim

thanks. i saw it up there on my car too. but reaching it, let alone removing and attaching wires looks to be quite difficult as laying on the floor my arms are simply not long enough to even reach anything up there. could they have made it any more inaccessible? i'm thinking maybe it would be simpler to run a new wire from the ignition switch to the coil.

BTW, am i correct in thinking it's just a bit of ceramic inline with the ignition wire that when cold creates little resistance but heats up when 6v starts coursing through it and when it heats it becomes slightly more resistant and reduces the voltage to the coil thus putting less stress on it and the points. ...or something along those lines?

[Juergen]

Originally Posted by hueyhoolihan

thanks. i saw it up there on my car too. but reaching it, let alone removing and attaching wires looks to be quite difficult as laying on the floor my arms are simply not long enough to even reach anything up there. could they have made it any more inaccessible? i'm thinking maybe it would be simpler to run a new wire from the ignition switch to the coil.

BTW, am i correct in thinking it's just a bit of ceramic inline with the ignition wire that when cold creates little resistance but heats up when 6v starts coursing through it and when it heats it becomes slightly more resistant and reduces the voltage to the coil thus putting less stress on it and the points. ...or something along those lines?

Yes, that is how the resistor works.

[Kens 36]

Originally Posted by hueyhoolihan

could they have made it any more inaccessible? i'm thinking maybe it would be simpler to run a new wire from the ignition switch to the coil.

This is intentional. Part of the reason is that it can get very hot and you don't want to accidentally touch it.

[hueyhoolihan]

Originally Posted by Kens 36

This is intentional. Part of the reason is that it can get very hot and you don't want to accidentally touch it.

understood...and they've succeeded beyond their wildest dreams AFAIC.