scrumpy Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Hi. I've bought a pertronix Ignitor to fit to my 260Z points distributor. I don't know which flamethrower 40000 volt coil to buy. A 1.5 ohm or a 3 ohm. The original coil has a primary resistance of 1.6-1.7 ohm. The ballast resistor has a resistance of 1.6 ohm. Total about 3 ohm total If I keep the ballast resistor then I think I buy a 1.5 ohm. Can I remove the ballast resistor and run a 3 ohm coil? Thing is someone says I need a ballast resistor or I may blow up my tacho?? The pertronix site says I can use either coil; a 3 ohm for street use or a 1.5 ohm for racing. Buggered if I know. Any sparkies out there who can point me in the right direction? It would be a cleaner conversion without the ballast resistor. Quote
Moderators Zedman240® Posted July 31, 2008 Moderators Posted July 31, 2008 It depends on the coil; if it needs a ballast resistor or not. The reason for the ballast resistor is for the coil. On starting, a full 12V is supplied to the coil to give a bigger spark to help the starting process, when the engine has started,and the key is returned to the "run" position, power goes through the resistor and gets dropped down to approx 9V for running. If you supplied a coil 12V continously that needs a ballast resistor you will have a melted down piece of metal that used to look like a coil. Go by what is written on the coil. It either says 12V or "use with ballast resistor". Hope that sheds some light.... Quote
warrenz Posted July 31, 2008 Posted July 31, 2008 Hi I fitted a Pertronix ignition and coil late last year. I bought the 3.0 ohm coil, Part number PRX 40501. The 1.5 ohm coil for racing can withstand higher vibration as they use a differnet oil or insulating electrolyte to hold it all together. I think you need the ballast resistor for the tacho, although you need to modify the wiring otherwise the tacho drops to 0 as soon as you hit 5000 revs. Hope you did not pay Australian prices. Electronic Ignition, Chrome coil and chrome bracket, $160 AUD delivered to my door from US. Warren Quote
crowe Posted August 2, 2008 Posted August 2, 2008 Scrumpy, I have just done this, bought the electronic ignition and the 1.5ohm coil and using the ballast resistor. I did hook it up for a while to 12 volts (without ballast) and it does get quite hot on the key and idling in a relatively short time so i went back to using the resistor. I spoke to Gordon at Petronix Australia and he sugggested i go with the 1.5 ohm rather than the 3.0 ohm. I did have problems with the petronix ignitor kit, it didnt fit my 260Z dizzy correctly. Apparently there are 2 different dizzy that were used on the 260z, but the confusing part is they both have the same model number stamped on the side. Mine required a little modification of the rotor shaft to get the magnetic pickup over the cam and is actually different to the dizzy decribed in the nissan workshop manual (even though it has the correct numbers on the outside) If you buy the ignitor kit and it doesnt fit you are either up for mods or maybe best to run a 280z dizzy instead and return the ignitor. Hope this helps, you can defintely go with the 1.5ohm coil. I would be interested to know if your dizzy fits the ignitor or not? Callum Quote
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