Mallory unilite help

[nirvana]

I am putting a conversion kit into a dual point mallory, I used the mallory 700 ballast wired from my original coil wire ( not sure if there is a ballast wire in the loom on my 74? )
My question is : Where do I hook the red wire from the Distributor as I have read that it can go to the positive side of the coil. ( saw this on a video ) Although the instructions say to run the red wire to the 12v side of the ballast resistor...The wiring on the kit makes going to the coil clean, If I have to run it to the resistor then I would either cut and splice or figure out how to put the ballast resistor near the coil...uggghhh!

Attempting to do a clean wiring job and if the wire can go to the coil it would make things nice and easy.

 

[DirtDonk]

It’s always something to mess up your idea of a clean wire route.
But then again, after you get it all done up perfectly, you find out you need to change it anyway!

Your 74 has a resistor wire built into it.
It’s under the dash, but takes the form of the Red with green stripe wire that goes to your ignition coil’s positive side.
There’s also one to the ignition module if you have the factory, dura spark set up. Which it sounds like you don’t have.

It sounds to me like the instructions are telling you to connect the distributor module to a full 12 volts. That’s why they say run it to the 12 V side of the resistor.
But you don’t need the resistor for the coil because you already have one in that red with green wire unless you are using a different wire?

So the answer is to either find an alternate 12 V source, such as the green with red stripe wire to the voltage regulator. Or use the red with green stripe wire to trigger a relay to give the module 12 V while somehow still keeping the reduced voltage to the coil.
At least that’s what I think for now. Might need more details to get it clear in my head.

 

[nirvana]

It’s always something to mess up your idea of a clean wire route.
But then again, after you get it all done up perfectly, you find out you need to change it anyway!

Your 74 has a resistor wire built into it.
It’s under the dash, but takes the form of the Red with green stripe wire that goes to your ignition coil’s positive side.
There’s also one to the ignition module if you have the factory, dura spark set up. Which it sounds like you don’t have.

It sounds to me like the instructions are telling you to connect the distributor module to a full 12 volts. That’s why they say run it to the 12 V side of the resistor.
But you don’t need the resistor for the coil because you already have one in that red with green wire unless you are using a different wire?

So the answer is to either find an alternate 12 V source, such as the green with red stripe wire to the voltage regulator. Or use the red with green stripe wire to trigger a relay to give the module 12 V while somehow still keeping the reduced voltage to the coil.
At least that’s what I think for now. Might need more details to get it clear in my head.

Thank you for the reply DD,
I was wondering about the factory resistor wire being there as the firewall plug that supplies 12v to the coil has two input wires before the plug. ( two into one ) so assuming that initial startup gets 12v then switches to a lower voltage when running?
If that is the case, do we know what the voltage switches to after startup?

The instructions say that the module gets 12v.

I watched some video about wiring it up and the guy put the module wire to the positive side of the coil. In the comment section someone asked wtf? in so many words and didn't get a response. So I come to ask here for higher knowledge.

This is going into a fresh rebuild so I don't want to screw up for the initial start up/break-in. Hoping to start it this saturday. It has been a LONG wait.

I thought about just using the factory style distributor for the startup but it won't fit the ARP oil pump drive that I used...

ETA: To answer your question about using the factory coil wire, yes that is how I was setting it up. Although I am not using the factory harness that supplies the coil, temp and oil sender. I just plugged a single wire into the coil side to the resistor block. and ran a single wire to the coil.

 

[DirtDonk]

I was wondering about the factory resistor wire being there as the firewall plug that supplies 12v to the coil has two input wires before the plug. ( two into one ) so assuming that initial startup gets 12v then switches to a lower voltage when running?
If that is the case, do we know what the voltage switches to after startup?

Correct. The two into one includes the brown wire from the “I“ post of the starter relay. This wire helps deliver more voltage to the coil while starting.
At other times, general voltage goes down to 7 or 8V.

The instructions say that the module gets 12v.

This is why connecting it to the positive side of the coil is generally not a good idea in the case of Broncos. It might work in other vehicles that already get full voltage to the coil, but not when using the stock factory Bronco wiring.
This is the same thing we go through when using a Pertronix unit in the distributor.

I watched some video about wiring it up and the guy put the module wire to the positive side of the coil. In the comment section someone asked wtf?

If the vehicle has an aftermarket wiring harness, probably gets 12 V to the ignition system at all times.
If there is a separate external ballast resistor the red wire from the distributor goes to the 12v (input) side of the resistor.

This is going into a fresh rebuild so I don't want to screw up for the initial start up/break-in. Hoping to start it this saturday. It has been a LONG wait.

Good idea to do everything right the first time!

I thought about just using the factory style distributor for the startup but it won't fit the ARP oil pump drive that I used...

The drive does not have a necked down end for a standard distributor? But it fits a distributor that was meant to replace a stock one? Strange.
Did you verify this already?

ETA: To answer your question about using the factory coil wire, yes that is how I was setting it up. Although I am not using the factory harness that supplies the coil, temp and oil sender. I just plugged a single wire into the coil side to the resistor block. and ran a single wire to the coil.

But on the other side the wiring is still factory? Sounds like it.
If so, you don’t need a separate resistor at all. Even for the coil.