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Prerequisites of my vehicle: 1985 Dodge Ram Van with Slant Six 30k original miles

I hope this is in the correct section here.

I purchased the van with the understanding it needed a tune up
upon getting home i noticed it had brand new cap, rotor, plugs and wires. it would not stay running and would back fire out of the carb.
I re-timed the mechanical and ignition timing to no avail. Upon removing the plugs i noticed 3 of the plugs had been smashed down to where the arm was pressed against the electrode. Once re-gapped it ran smooth..... for 10 minutes.

after 10 minutes the coil exploded, went and purchased a new one and yet again it exploded.

cleaned and reset the grounds in the engine bay and at the battery tried coil number 3 and boom exploded.

Decided to purchase a new distributor however i could not find one that resembled the one on the van. it appears the ECU( if there ever was on) has been deleted and the only wire leaving the distributor goes directly to the coil negative. It does have vacuum advance but dies as soon as it is plugged in. There is no coil resistor either. i cannot seem to locate a diagram to run all the factory wiring for the ignition to stop toasting coils. ANY IDEAS?

Thank you in advance.
if anyone is located near NKY/Cincy and wants to make some money i will pay whatever is asked(with reasonable limits) to get this thing running or to run a HEI conversion for me

Is your distributor a points type or does it have an electronic pickup. It sounds like it has points, but no ballast resistor. That could/will over heat the coil (might not even have the correct coil), and burn the points.
You should convert back to either the Mopar electronic ign, or HEI ign. Let us know what you have, and we can help.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

I think the ignition is controlled by a computer board that is behind the battery (at least on the pickups it is). So there isn't really a module like the early style Mopar ignitions. There likely isn't a ballast resistor either. You should get one of the truck/van books to help diagnose the issue.

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-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

I'll vote for lack of ballast resistor.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

If it hasn't been removed/bypassed. RVG stated that there was only one wire from the distributor, and it went directly to the coil. I'm thinking someone eliminated the lean burn, and subtituted points.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

OK, got it. So RGV should just get a coil and ballast resistor for something like a 1968-72 ish van and wire in the coil WITH ballast resistor. I wonder how long it has been converted to points?

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-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN