RE: MP Electronic Ignition - Ballast - Final

["Dennis C." <dennis.2914@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Sorry for the last message, I made the mistake of answering with the 
wrong email program.

I did call Mopar Performance but did not do very well.  The guy I talked 
to gave almost no information and sounded like he was just reading out 
of a catalog.  

According to him for street use we should be using a 1 ohm ballast 
resistor.  The 1/4 ohm resistors are only used for racing.  He would not 
comment on street/strip use of the performance coils and 1/4 ohm 
resistors.  Personally I would use the Chrome box and Blaster coil with 
a 1/4 ohm resistor.

I did ask about bypassing the ballast resistor, he said the coil would 
overheat and the ECU could be damaged.

I asked about using other coils with the Mopar ECU, he would not comment 
on it, he just said call the manufacturer of the coil and do what they 
say.

He ended the call my making the point that it does not matter what 
system we use, just use the system as designed.  As an example if we 
want to run MSD then run a MSD box and coil that is designed to work 
with the Mopar electronic distributer or use a MSD distributer.

Mopar Performance is currently manufacturing the following boxes:

Orange box  to 6,000 rpm

Chrome box  to 8,000 rpm my understanding that this box can be used with 
the performace coils with a 1/4 ohm ballast resistor

Gold box    to 12,000 rpm this is listed as a race only box.

Here is a site that has some history on the different boxes that Mopar 
has used:

http://www.badassmopars.com/1967coronettechElectroniccecus.htm

I checked the following coils on Summit Racing:

P4876742 Blaster black
P4876733 Blaster chrome
P4120889 Blaster square

All of these were listed as having 0.700 ohm primary and all required a 
1/4 ohm ballast resistor.

Ballast Resistors, there are only 2 resistors available:

P2444641  1/4 ohm ballast resistor.  It is listed as working with the 
following coils:
P3690560
P4876832-33

P5206436  1 ohm ballast resistor for use with the Orange box and the 
production coil or the following coil:

P4120889 ?? Summit Racing catalog lists this as needing a 1/4 ohm 
resistor however Mopar Performance catalog on Jim's Auto Parts shows 
this as a 1 ohm ballast coil, I suspect it requires a 1 ohm resistor but 
I have not called Mopar Performance back to verify.

http://www.jimsautoparts.com/mopar_performance_ignition.htm

The following information was found on the Mopar Action site: (if the 
cut and paste works)

"The ballast's value is pretty much an inverse curve: as the resistance 
decreases, the spark out goes up ("hotter" spark), RPM range also goes 
up, and emissions and low-RPM misfire go down. Sounds like a no-brainer, 
right? Well, there's no free lunch, mate! As the resistance goes down, 
current draw (amperage) goes up, and so does power dissipation, which is 
what makes all those good things happen. But more dissipation = higher 
operating temps = reduced reliability. That's why the "Gold" box has an 
extra heat radiator on the switching transistor.
Now that the engineering lesson is over, a direct answer: around 1.0 ohm 
seems to be a good compromise. Anything less, for long-term street use, 
either toss spare parts in the glove box, or add an extra heat radiator 
(it's a TO-3 power transistor, see sources such as www.digi-key.com or 
Radio Shack, etc.)"

Mopar Action had a comment on spare parts:
"Of course, all the tools in the world won't help if you have no 
replacement parts. As we'll see, some items can be coerced to work with 
no parts, but, in most cases, it's gonna be out with the old, in with 
the new. On cars with electronic ignition, a spare ECU and ballast 
resistor are must-haves. Point-ignition cars should also have the 
ballast, and a spare set of breaker points"

This all makes my head hurt. Based on this I think I made the right 
choice with the Pertronix unit however I do have a stock point 
distributor and coil in the trunk.

I am considering converting my 64 Plymouth, it has a 318, I'll probably 
convert he distributor using Pertronix.  

My reason for using Pertronix is that I don't want to mount the ECU 
under the hood, my cars did not come with one, I don't want to see one.  
I know they can be mounted under the dash, too much trouble.

I would appreciate any comments and corrections to this mess.

Dennis C.


sky62 wrote:
> 
> hey Dennis, just wondering, did you get a chance to talk to anyone at  
> MP tech support
> about this ballast resistor dilemma? if not maybe I'll give em' a shout.
> 
> thanks
> Schuyler
> 62 Dodge Dart 440 wagon w/ Poly 318
>   <http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/ml-wrobel62.html>
> FYI - I Do the Decal designs for the Poly head 318 and more! email me  
> with your needs -
>   <sky62@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> 
> 
> On Jul 24, 2009, at 4:58 PM, Dennis C. wrote:
> 
> >
> > I Hope!
> >
> > I may have an answer to the question about ballast resistors and Mopar
> > Electronic Ignition upgrades with different coils.
> >
> > I found the following number for Mopar Performance Tech Support.  I
> > tried calling but I was too late however I got a message that it  
> > was the
> > tech line:
> >
> > 888-528-4364
> >
> > The message said they are open M-F from 9:00am to 6:00pm Eastern time.
> > I plan to call them on Monday.
> >
> > I hope they can tell me when and what size of ballast resistor is  
> > needed
> > based on the resistance of coils and what coils they recommend for  
> > their
> > systems.  This should not be that complicated  but it seems to be.
> >
> > Maybe if se can get to the bottom of this we can get it posted to help
> > others.
> >
> > Dennis C.
> >
> > 1996 Dodge Ram 3500 Van Conversion
> > 1964 Plymouth Belvedere 318 Auto
> > 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury 383 4-speed
> > 1949 Dodge Pickup 289/C4 soon to be changed
> > 1998 Honda Valkyrie Standard
> >
> >
> > ----
> > Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person  
> > -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and  
> > negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the  
> > intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This  
> > practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail  
> > and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!
> >
> > '62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
> > http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.
> >
> 



1996 Dodge Ram 3500 Van Conversion
1964 Plymouth Belvedere 318 Auto
1963 Plymouth Sport Fury 383 4-speed
1949 Dodge Pickup 289/C4 soon to be changed
1998 Honda Valkyrie Standard


----
Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.