resistor for points

vinny wrote: The Prestolite distributors whether for 196's or 232's have their caps held on by clips. Although they are quite reliable the last time I checked a tune up kit for one ran close to $100, including cap, rotor, points and condenser. Better to stay with the more popular Delco style with the hold down screws.

Edited by tomj - Dec/30/2017 at 11:23pm

The old Prestolite (or Autolite?) distributor with the points was OK. Mine had 145000 miles and still going. Always gave me good service but lately getting ridiculously expensive for tune up parts. Maybe you guys are referring to Prest-no-lite's later electronic version of which I know nothing about.

I had two Delco distributors with points and now none, although kept one for the Rambler to use for the Petronix. The one in my truck was defective in some way although I can't fault that either because it had been sitting in a field for twenty years and I did no troubleshooting. Tossed it for an HEI unit that I am very happy with. The HEI's can also give trouble though as I had a module fail some years ago in a SBC P/U. They can't stand the heat of climbing over a mountain on a hot day.

Getting back to the resistor wire question, I had not realized the OP had a Rambler American and not a Classic so I don't know anything about that either. I also am not sure of the correct way of checking a coil for resistance but what I have done is measure across the plus and minus terminals. 4 ohms was the value measured in the coil that had been in my car for many years.