Today I replaced my ignition for a Pertronixs flametrower III / Ignitor III and the engine runs crap.... I think I need to bypase the coil resistance wire. Can someone please tell me where to find it (and how it looks) on my '64 Mercury Colonypark?? It's got a 390 FE. I thinks the wire is under my dash but I'm not sure.... Many Thanks, Ramon
I think on the '64's its a pink wire that runs from the Ign sw to the fuse panel. It's pretty easy to spot, it's the one wire that has a high tin content, should be stiffer and look different from the rest. Make sure you check for 12V between the coil POS side and ground.
I would just replace the whole section on wire with a regular wire. The resistor wire was used on fords to lower the volts to the coil. The wire on my thunderbird burned up and I replaced it with a regular wire and installed a resistorized coil. Than this year I installed a Pertronix system and it runs great.
Most Fords have the resistor wire going from an under-hood connecter directly to the coil. The wire is easy to identify, it's quite stiff, and the wire itself is shiny silvery metal.
Splinter is right. It's a pink wire under the dash coming from the ign. switch. It's a little thicker than the rest being it's a fusable link. I changed mine out on my '64 Mercury Comet.
Hmmm, read this before you get rid of it. I had a electronic conversion kit in my Ford distributor. It worked great. I replaced the coil with an MSD blaster III coil. The instructions said "do not use a resitor wire or ballast resistor with this coil". I removed the resistor. After about three or four hours of operation,,,BAM,,the electronic conversion thing inside the distributor burned out. I had a good Mallory electronic ditributor so I installed it. NOTE: the instructions on the mallory distributor said "you must use a resistor on this distributor". So, now I have a wire (12 volts) running direct to the coil and a wire that routes through a resistor (9 volts) leading to the distributor. All is good. Be careful when mixing equipment. They may not be the same.
He Beep thanks for the advise! I installed a Pertronix ignitor III Coil and dizzy. So this should work togetter... The Merc now is running oke in p & N . When I put it in D the rpm drops so far that the engine stalls... I think its the resistance wire cause there's 9 volt at the coil. It shoul have 12...
If you're getting 9V at the coil, you need to bypass the coil resistance wire-if you can, pull the wire out of the connector on the ign sw, and replace it with a regular (16 or 18 ga) wire, then splice back in to the factory harness as close to the fuse block as you can. If you're feeling saucy, pull the fuse block and open it, replacing the wire all the way to the fuse. Then re-try your voltage readings. Good luck!
The wire may be covered in a thick anti-abrasion sheath. It looks like knit cloth, the same stuf used on the oil pressure sensor wire ( without all the grease of course)
Thanks guys, Today I bypased the the resistor wire and the Merc runs fine! Try to tune it with a timinglight but the readings didnt match so I tuned it by "ear".......?? The timing marks on the crankdamper are not weird... I think someone changed the damper. Could use some fine-tuning.....
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