Looks like the PO skewered the wiring underneath the dash. Jumble of wires, splices-- its ugly. At some point I'm gonna need to replace it all. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out if there is a resistor wire-- I tried following the wire from the ignitionand can't seem to locate it. The PO ran points, so I'd be surprised if he didn't have the resistor wire. Is there a test I can do with my multimeter to determine if there resistor wire is still in?

 

The resistor wire eventually turns into a pink wire before it gets to the distributor. If you are getting a full 12 volts at the coil from the ignition, the pink resistor wire has been bypassed. My suggestion is that you go ahead and get the pertronix module if that is the case, but if the voltage is like 9.5 or something, then use the points as usual, or bypass the pink resistor wire and install the pertronix. Your call.

 

I already installed the Pertronix.... it seems to work ok, but I thought I read somewhere here that a Pertronix will run ok with 8-9 volts. Should I be testing the coil while the car is idling?

Unfortunately, the wiring is a mess... typical colors of wires do not apply...

 

The pertronix will work with a minimum of 7.5 volts, but most guys prefer to not push the lower limit and hook theirs up to the 12 volt switched source off the ignition. That's where mine is hooked up and I hardly even hear the starter turn over before the engine has started. I mean, it's like a nano second.
On edit: Yes, test the coil at idle

 

Thanks Soaring... you da man!

 

If you look at the back of your ignition switch, you'll see a wire about 6" long (red?) which connects to the resistance wire (pink). On my '65, this wire was inside a cloth-like housing. If you look on the wire closely, you'll see that it says something along the lines of "resistance, do not cut".

FWIW, my wiring is completely original with nothing cut, spliced, etc. When I hooked up the multi-meter to the wire going to the coil, I was getting the same voltage reading as I did straight off of the battery. I'm not an electrical guru by any means (limped through those classes in engineering school ), so I don't know if these things can lose resistance or what. Somebody with more knowledge on the subject will have to take over.

BTW, the wire that connects to the 'I' terminal on your solenoid is in the same circuit as your coil wire. When you turn over the car, it connects your coil straight to the battery, bypassing the resistance wire.

Good luck!

 

Jeff, That's a normal reading if you disconnected the hot lead at the coil and read it there. To show a voltage drop, take the voltage reading with the hot lead connected. It's a little tight (a short jumper may help), but you should read a voltage drop.
Jim