66-67 Dodge Charger Source Guide


Electronic Ignition Installation

If you have misplaced or never had installation instructions for your electronic ignition it might be useful to check out the Imperial Web Site at www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Electrical/Electronic/.

Here's their schematic. It's a very well written article.

Q&A


Q

04/13/04
Terry Hoover: When I bought my charger it already had a Chrysler electronic ignition and the ballast was still in the circuit.
Does the Chrysler system need the ballast?

A

04/13/04
Rick: The "external resistor" referred to is the ballast resistor. That metal thing hanging off your coil is a capacitor, they were used to keep ignition noise from coming through the radio. It's not necessary for the car to run, none of mine have it. As far as what he meant by both wires on the same side of the ballast, if you connect the pertronix to the "in" side of the ballast, (usually driver's side)it's the same thing as just tying them together, it bypasses the ballast.

It's just sometimes more convenient to crimp all the wires into one female spade lug and hang 'em on the lug of the ballast than solder them all together. The ballast served to lower the voltage to the points so they would last longer. Also, most factory Chrysler coils have "use with external resistor" stamped on them, they need to have a ballast to lower the voltage or they'll burn out.

High-performance aftermarket coils like the Blaster II, Accel, etc. are designed for 12v constant with no ballast. So basically the wire going to the driver's side of the ballast gets tied directly to the pertonix power lead and the coil + wire.