should a ballast resistor be used for HEI/electronic distributors like Unilite?

I thought so but Im not so sure..

I THOUGHT they were to keep the distributor safe from voltage spikes, etc. I do not think it steps the voltage down like the resistor wire for points, but what do i know!!

when I had the mallory unilite dist. in the 350, it had the ballast resistor connected in line with the coil (i think the + side) but when I installed the HEI someone recommended not using it. the unilite ran fine with it connected.

searching the tech section, i didnt get any reliable answers.. so: for hei/electronic distributor, run ballast resistor or not? AND what exactly does it do?


mike

[This message has been edited by mike reeh (edited 04-30-99).]

No you dont need it for a HEI distributor, but you do on the Mallory Unilites and Comp 9000s with the eletronic eye. 12 volts to the eye will fry it.

I called Mallory when I purchased my Mallory Unilite and they strongly recommended their 40,000 Mallory coil and ballast resistor. I installed it as directed and it worked just fine. They indicated that the Unilite could not handle 12 volts straight up. The ballast resistor gets quite hot so I mounted it on the rear of the engine near the transmission bell housing.

Sometime later I acquired a ProForm HEI with 50,000 volt coil and wanted to try it so swaped out the whole assembly ballast resistor and all. The HEI wants a full 12 volts so I ran a wire from the fuze box that was showing a full 12 volts with the ignition switched on - it too works just fine.

John

A ballast resistor is the same thing as the factory resistor wire, It steps down the voltage to about 9 volts. Older Mallory units that I've installed even called for two resistors inline to drop the voltage to 6 volts. The HEI will run w/ the ballast resistor but not to its full potential. A HEI is designed to run on a full 12 volts.