blue coil, ballast resistor, and crane 700

[johnny]

One of the FAQs mentions that if you are running the blue coil and have the crane 700 you should bypass the ballast resistor. I have that exact setup but the ballast resistor is still connected via a green wire going in and a green wire coming out. The car does idle rough, missing maybe once every 10-15 seconds. I've timed it, changed the plugs, wires, rotor, and cap. It does not miss once the rpm is up above 1200. I'm thinking that the ballast resistor may be too much at idle. Can I really simply bypass the resistor without risking damage to the crane? Thanks!

[johnhup]

I am not sure if it will fix your idle problem but I just removed the whole resistor end of story.

[johnny]

Hey johnhup, I saw you (at least I think it was you) booking down laguna honda on the weekend. Car looks great. Thanks for the info.

[johnhup]

Hrmm... I am usually booking it . Where is Laguna Honda though? I know a Laguna street.

[02fanatic]

You don't need the external ceramic ballast resistor with the Bosch Blue Coil (since it has built-in resistance)...you only need the ballast resistor with the stock coil or the Bosch Red Coil (1.0 Ohms non-tii, 1.8 Ohms for tii - might not be exact but it's close). :-)

John

[johnny]

Great I am going to bypass that thing tonight.

Laguna Honda is 7th ave where it does that little s curve and where that little lake is. If it was not Johnhup it was someone else with a nice polaris roundie.

[TTyMiller]

John is 100% correct the Blue coil has an internal resistor.

[johnny]

Ok the resistor bypass is completed and the car now idles smoothly as low as 500 rpm. Thanks everyone!

[Bad Dad]

Hello,

My new to me 02 is showing strange symptoms, which I expect to be coil related. It starts right up when cold, and pulls like a rocket. However, when driving for some time, it just suddenly dies on me. No matter whether I am in idle at stoplight or accelerating, the engine just cuts. When this happens, it will not start up again. There is no spark. If left to sit for about 30 min or more, the engine starts right up.

 

I suspect the coil, and have thus learned about blue coils, resistors etc, which brought me here. Looking beneath my bonnet, I find this curious combination. (I have a Crane 700 as well, which I also suspect might be a culprit).

 

Am I correct to simply eliminate this resistor? And am I correct in suspecting the coil age being the culprit here?

 

Many thanks

[HBChris]

Symptom of coil overheating.  Blue coil doesn’t need the ballast, you are reducing spark to the plugs.  I would remove crane and ballast.

 

I had a 69 with red coil and original 1.1 ballast, it would die like yours, cool down and restart.  Red coil needed 1.8 ballast, all fixed.

Edited August 12 by HBChris

[Bad Dad]

Thank you. I have a new coil on order. 
 

on removing the Crane system; I believe there is a optical trigger with it. I assume, I would need a new distributor? I looked at this one from IE which I assume would be a good replacement for the Crane box with unknown age. 

 

Many thanks, all help much appreciated. 

Edited August 12 by Bad Dad

[Son of Marty]

Optical systems are pretty bullet proof, I would try returning to points and condenser to see if that fixes it. The IE distributor has a pretty bad reliability reputation.  But do the coil first.

[Bad Dad]

Thank you. I will try the new coil. Just wondering why it runs hot. 
 

Will return to points, or try the “Hot Spark” as I see it is fairly reasonable. 

[Stevenc22]

The IE distributor is for a TII. Less suited for a carb car. If you do buy a new distributor, buy a 123.  Hot spark are excellent, ran one many years. 

 

If you do remove the crane, remove the resitor as well and simplify the wiring to be a single power wire from the #12 fuse to the coil.

[jimk]

The wiring photo appears to show the ballast resistor has been bypassed, so it is not the problem.