A lot of my acquaintances in the Mini community hate the ballast ignition system. Part of that resentment is from not knowing how it works. The second reason is because Minis used the white/pink resistance wire instead of an external ballast resistor. It is very common for mid-70s Minis to have wiring harness damage from that overheated ballast wire.
My GT6 does not have the ballast system but our Spitfire does. Our Spitfire has the external ballast resistor piggy-backed onto the coil bracket. It's neat, clean and reliable. I won't change the setup unless I have to.
Doug L.
P.S. Your rocker assembly should leave my office in today's UPS shipment.
--Previous Message--
: This was a great discussion.
:
: If memory serves correctly, the reason
: we have a low voltage coil with a
: ballast resistor is this:
:
: The coil actually gets direct power
: (full voltage) during engine start in
: anticipation of a voltage drop due to
: starter load, but then gets it's power
: through the ballast resistor during
: normal operation. This way we'll have
: a good spark available when the voltage
: is low, but not blow the coil up
: otherwise.
:
: Is this correct, or did I just have too
: much coffee that day.
:
: Ciao! - Jim M
:
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