Just so you know my73eb, a smoking resistor is VERY common. They build resistance through the windings, and resistance IS heat, and usually anything close to them burns. Most often a little oil on the unit or the paint on the body where it's mounted. Not good, but not unusual or worriesome if nothing is close enough to catch fire!
But definitely leave it unhooked. If you don't need it, don't use it. The more volts geting to the ignition system, the better the spark. And with the Pertronix hooked up the way you have it, you want full voltage to the coil.
Can you tell whether or not the voltage at the Blue w/white wire is there while the starter is cranking? If not, then either that circuit is incorrect or the ignition switch is going bad or your starter solenoid's "I" wire is grounding out. Are you using that circuit still or did you leave it out like Painless recommends? Is it a new switch or the old one? If I remember my Painless stuff, you've got the right wire, so that's OK. Besides, it should say "ignition coil +" right on it. Is that right? Verify constant voltage anyway.
And, you might verify that your Ignitor's gap is set correctly to the .030" (or whatever it is) that they recommend with their little plastic gapper tool.
Distributor in correctly? Was it running before or has it all been messed with during the Painless install?
If all the power feeds are good, verify that you are getting spark at the coil. Do this carefully as the Pertronix modules are more sensetive to feedback than Durasparks are. So pull the high-voltage coil wire out of the distributor and plug a spark plug into it and lay it near a ground, WELL AWAY FROM THE DISTRIBUTOR! Just to play it safe with the module. Don't ask me how I kjow!!!
Try those things and let us know what you find out.
Good luck.
Paul
