thanks for your answer brandon!
i still have some questions as i want to fully understand this whole principle.
Your red coil should not have a ballast resistor. In fact many of the blue coils do not have the internal resistor either. You just need to check it with an ohm meter to make sure.
you mean my red coil doesn't have an INTERNAL resistor? how do i check the ohm value? i have an ohm meter, does the coil need +12V and ground when measuring?
what value should i get, and what to do when i get an other value?
If you run the Ignitor without a resistor it will burn out the pick up. Since you are using a MSD ignition box you do not need the resistor though, however you may want to pick one up in case your box goes kaput on you so you can hook up the coil to the resistor and then to the distributor so you can get home.
to get things clear, i thought that a ballast resistor was to lower the voltage and to be bypassed when started to get a higher voltage and efficient starting?
what does the ballast resistor do in this case? and why does it burn the pick up when absent in this setup?
can i use a resistor AND an MSD box or does it make the system less efficient? i don't want to run with the risk of breaking my MSD box.
I would get rid of those Bosch wires since some of them have a resistor in them. You may want to check out the Taylor (CB sells them) or Magnecor or the Aurora wires (Aircooled.net sells them). Also you may want to get an ignition rotor without the resistor since the box can burn it out over time (CB sells them and Aircooled.net does as well or you can make your own you just take your dremel and remove the carbon resistor between the center and tip and solder in a heavy gauge wire then use a 2 part epoxy to fill in what you removed).
again, how can the box burn the resistor in the rotor? because of the increased voltage the MSD box(plus red coil) creates in the secondary circuit?
p.s. if anyone has any other comments, please add!
also i started a little search for a ballast resistor and found some of about $100 and one on a mercedes website for $30. it is just about the right ohm value, right?