1933 ignition resistor wiring?

[lotsagas4u]

OK, on the inside firewall, I have a fuse block plate. It has the resistor to the left, and a single fuse bracket on the right. The 2 red ignition switch wires are connected to left side of resistor mounting bolt. Seems as it should have 1 red wire on left side, and 1 red wire on right, bypassed resistor? Correct? Thoughts? Thanks

[JSeery]

Seems someone has bypassed the ballast resistor. Might check it to be sure it is working. Bypassing the resistor is not good on the coil long term! The voltage at the coil should be somewhere below 4 volts. If the ballast resistor is bad I would suggest looking for a NOS replacement, the repro units are very poor quality.

[lotsagas4u]

Ok, borrowed a genuine ford resistor, installed it with the 2 red wires coming from harness. I have 6.3 volts at battery, and 6.3 volts at ignition switch bottom terminals. No volts at switch bottoms with switch is on, but have 2.7 volts at resistor contacts with switch on. There are red/yellow wires coming from bottom of ignition switch, red going to one side of resistor, yellow to left side of fuse block. Have a new NOS switch contact installed. Have 2.7 volts to coil wire, not sure whats up here, thoughts??? Thanks

[JSeery]

Assume you are looking at a wiring diagram for a 33. There should be the wire from the ignition switch to one side of the ballast resistor and it should read very near battery voltage. The other side of the resistor connects to the coil and should read in the 3 volt range with the points closed (do not leave the ignition switch on with the points closed any longer than necessary as it will burn up the coil).

Bubba has some information on coil testing. http://www.bubbasignition.com/ignition-coils-.html

The voltage should be a little higher than 2.7v. That would indicate to high a resistance somewhere in the circuit. It should be somewhere in the 3.6v range.

[koates]

Hi there. When measuring the voltage at the original Ford ignition coil with the engine not running, then the distributer timing contacts must be closed so that the coil circuit is energised. When doing this test you have to be quick, as in just a few seconds after turning the ignition switch ON from COLD. In this case you should get about 4 volts at the coil. The longer the ignition switch is left on then the more the resistor heats up thus increasing its resistance and lowering the voltage at the coil. If the ignition switch has been ON for a minute or two or three then you may have only about 2 volts at the coil. Remember this is with the engine not running. Voltage readings with the engine running would be higher than this. The resistor is designed to give a higher voltage at the coil when cold so as to give a better spark at the spark plugs when cranking for the first start up from cold. Once the engine starts and the resistor warms up thus reducing the coils current draw and therefore making for a longer life of the distributer contacts. A great simple system which seems to be so misunderstood. The original genuine FORD resistor is the best one to use as it has the correct type of wire in the winding. Other reproductions may or may not have the correct wire and therefore may not work as they are supposed to. Regards. Kevin.

[lotsagas4u]

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Kevin, did a little more checking today. I have 6.3 volts at battery, and 6.3 volts at bottoms of switch plate with ignition switch in the OFF position. I have 6.3 now at left side of resistor, and 4 at right side. I did bump starter, and had 6.3 volts on both sides of resistor. I started the engine and had 4.5 volts at coil wire with engine at idle speed. Not sure about the NO voltage when switch is off, but it appears the ford resisitor is working. It sure gets hot though, Thoughts? Thanks to all who replied

[JSeery]

Those numbers look like what you should have.

[Tinker]

The resister will get hot, it's really designed to do so as it's expends the extra voltage. When you install a new one it'll smoke right away, burning off the manufacturing coatings.

Next might be a skip coil for comfort and reassurance for the long hall.

[G.M.]

Go back about 8 pages of posts to "missing then stalls" post.
I describe how to fix the poor contact area of the ignition switch.
G.M.

[carguybill]

Here's G.M.'s advice on rebuiloding the ignition switch. Thanks for this G.M, I found I'm loosing almost 2 vollts across the ignitioon switch.

By G.M.: The voltage at the switch with the switch on and the points open
should be within a couple 10ths of the battery voltage. The jumping
around indicates a bad connection or generator problem. I would take
the switch apart and with a small screw driver CAREFULLY bend the 3
little ball tabs out about .030 being careful not to lose the little springs.
Put 1000 sandpaper on a real flat surface and holding slight down
pressure sand the ball contacts so they have small flat spots on the
ends. Do the same with the other flat contact plate. This will be arced
and the plastic will have worn groves. Use 320 to get it down smooth
then 1000 to take the ruff sand marks out. The two smooth surfaces
when they come in contact will then have more contact area. It don't
seem like much but the sanding ridges reduce contact area.