When I bought my '72 Duster it was missing the distributor, coil and the associated wiring (not all of it is missing). I have been looking for the wire that went to the coil and the points. The FSM doesn't show any wiring going to any points and I don't have an electronic ignition module. So my question is: what color is the wire that goes to the points and where does it come from?

I have a single ballast resistor with two dark blue wires on one end and two brown wires on the other.

Maybe this is a moot point, but I will be installing an MSD-6AL in place of the existing ignition.

bwhitejr

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'72 Duster (Performance 360)
'83 Ramcharger (Performance 318)
'80 TrailDuster (360)
'80 D-150 Truck (See Below)
CompCams 252S, Holley 390cfm, Offy manifold
Ported, Polished and Gasket Matched
P4286813 Springs,0.040 Overbore,
0.090 Shaved Head

Point distributors have a (usually) black wire hanging out their side that connects inside to the points and other end to the (-)coil. It passes through a rubber grommet in the distributor housing.

This wire must be flexible to allow the vacuum advance to move the plate with the points easily. Usually the wire and grommet is a single replacable part.

It wasn't considered part of the wiring harness as such, but rather as part of the distributor. If you look in chapt#8 in your FSM you should be able to see it in some of the pictures.

It is pretty obvious when you look at a point distributor where it goes; usually through the side. There is also often a small hole in the bottom beneath the advance weights that is a vent that is not where the wire goes.

There should be a (usually) brown wire running to the (+) coil from the low side of the ballast.

The point setup is virtually identical to Kettering's design from the 1920s and very straightforward. Be aware that capacitors (aka condensors) can go bad with age and sitting around; even if your points look perfect, the condensor may be bad. It should show near infinite resistance on a DMM (although depending on the meter, it may take a few seconds to charge up).

Since you have the dist out, I'd carefully clean and lubricate it as shown in the FSM - I've found Lubriplate white grease to be the best by far. Removing the roll pin that holds the plastic ring on the shaft tends to break the ring, so either get a spare ring or leave the shaft in place and work around it. Don't forget the 1 drop of engine oil on the wick under the rotor.

You can run an MSD using the points as a trigger just fine, but the lower voltage may not run a tach properly.

I've written a article (there are many others out there) that might help you at:
http://www.tidewatermoparclub.com/TECH/ign_faq6b.pdf