Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => Drive train, fuel, suspension, steering & brakes => Topic started by: Dave on September 25, 2013, 17:40:17

Title: pertronix ballast resistor or not
Post by: Dave on September 25, 2013, 17:40:17

I have a later 230sl with the red coil and 1.9 ohm red resistor.   Now that points are gone and pertronix installed which is it?

Title: Re: pertronix ballast resistor or not
Post by: rogerh113 on September 26, 2013, 11:42:07

Hi,

When I installed the Pertronix many years ago in my '66, I made no changes except to install the Pertronix.  The car has been running great and I have had no issues at all with the Pertronix.  I think you will be impressed with the improved performance of the car.  It is one of the two primary, highly noticeable performance improvements I made in the car (the other being alloy wheels).

Regards -- Roger

Title: Re: pertronix ballast resistor or not
Post by: al_lieffring on September 27, 2013, 16:01:28

The resistor is for matching the primary voltage to the coil, so to remove the resistor would also require the use a coil with a higher internal resistance.

When I switched to Petronix, I bought their coil to avoid the possibility of incompatibility issues. I got the low resistance coil and retained the factory 1.8 ohm resistor.

I too agree that this is the single best performance improvement I have made to the car in the 37 years that I have owned it.