Pinto Car Club of America

My 74 wagon w 2.3 has a points type ignition system. I have a spare electronic 2.3 distributor which i am going to install with an MSD 6A ignition box so i can do away with the points. My question is (the msd techs acted like they really didnt know the answer to this) is that,since this car has points type ignition, the positive wire from the coil is going to only carry 9 volts instead of 12 (except while cranking it will be the full 12 volts) due to the resistor wire which is not used in teh electronic ignition cars. This wire is the wire you're supposed to use to turn the msd on with.  Is the 9 volts going to be enough to turn it on and keep it on or do i need to find this resistor wire, and remove it? I really dont want to find it and remove it because last time i looked i could find it, and im thinking ill have to undo all the tape and wire looms in the wiring harness and trace the coil wire back to the resistor wire to remove it, and that will be a BIG mess. Chiltons says its behind the instrument cluster, in a green square connector with 8 pins in it, but i cant find that connector anywhere. I need to just quit spending money on this engine/trans/rear and brake setup (and not replace the mufler) and just start saving all my money for a T5, 2.3 turbo, 8 or 9 inch rear and 3" exhaust!  ;D :D 8) :lol: (by the way, how would a 2.3 turbo sound with a 3" magnaflow muffler? ;D :D)

If you have a duraspark distributor you should be able to use the MSD wiring instructions for Ford Duraspark Ignition. If you remove the resistor wire you will need a different coil that will stand up to 12volts continually. The resistor is a pink wire (or red w/green stripe) that is 57 to 60 inches long, it will be coiled up in the loom between the ignition switch and the coil. But you should not have to remove it.

I plan on using a Blaster II coil, i think it will be tons better than the stock coil. It'd probably be best if i removed the resistor wire, but i dont know. Thank you for the reply!

When I first did my 2.3T swap with LA3 ecu,I ran a Blaster coil and hooked it up to the stock wiring.It didn't take long for the resistor wire to burn into and I wound up bypassing it and put my ignition on a seperate togglr switch.