Measure it with an ohmmeter........

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

OK I'll ohm it tomorrow, but what would make it get hot? Could the timing being advanced cause it to get hot because of firing early and more often....?

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1964 Dodge Dart 270 four door. Three speed automatic 225 Slant with a Carter BBS carb.

Is it mounted in the stock location on the engine?

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

Yes mounted in stock location behind the alternator...

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1964 Dodge Dart 270 four door. Three speed automatic 225 Slant with a Carter BBS carb.

My grandfather used to go through coils on his '65 Coronet because there is little airflow behind the alternator to keep the coil cool (and it also transfers heat from the hot block.

Most people relocate it off the block onto the passenger side fender and do a little rewiring to get it there...it should stay fairly cool there (I'm still using an Accel Super Coil from 2002 and it hasn't failed yet (I do keep a spare just in case though... ...)

-D.Idiot

64DartGT,
Yes, been running that coil set up for several years. Mounted in the stock location behind the alternator even the stock coil gets way too hot. I ran mine mounted on the fender for years, then said to heck with that and got the next model coil up. I wanted to run an HEI style coil since it has better cooling.

Click on the red link below my name to view pictures of the coil. It runs luke warm 90% of the time. Only gets warm to hot on 90+ degree days......

Get rid of that ballast resistor!

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Thanks guy's for the updates and info....definitely helps with problems and gives me confidence with them.........

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1964 Dodge Dart 270 four door. Three speed automatic 225 Slant with a Carter BBS carb.

Installed the Solid State Regulator and it works fine. It is made in China, so I will carry the original(50 yrs old & still working) one in the trunk.

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1964 Dart GT

A ballast coil is supposed to get hot; the stock elec one is ~1 ohm, so for ign on / not running you'd expect about (12V)/(3+1ohm)=4Amps; 4A*1ohm=4Watts. In a stock elec ign setup you'd have (12V)/(1.6+1ohm)=4.6A; 4.6A*1ohm=4.6W.

O.K., this thing is TOAST! I did not read the directions closely enough. NO ALTERNATOR OVER 50 AMP! Oops! Even with the wiring upgrade for my 60 amp alternator, it melted down! Be Aware!

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1964 Dart GT

What's the part number on the big blue transistor in the case?
(I'll cross-reference it........)

Changing that out to a higher capacity transistor will up the capacity of the regulator.

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

When I said "TOAST", I actually meant it completely burnt up! It also took out part of my wiring harness, plastic tubing to my oil pressure gauge(real mess!) and just screwed things up. I replaced it with the original regulator, which seems to be working fine. Not sure if the alternator will be a problem with it???

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1964 Dart GT

It will be a problem- one of the things they had to do in order to get more amps output was to increase the field strength. The higher field circuit draw requires a regulator that can handle the increased load. The only regulator I know of that will be reliable for 60A & over alt's is the circa 80's "dual field terminal" style- I'm sure Dan knows the appropriate part number/ applications.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

I know that zombiefying a Dart with GM parts can be sacrilegious but I fried the stock 50amp alternator. One night I had to change out the battery and stupidly reversed the polarity for a second. Anyway, I swapped out the alternator/voltage regulator setup I had (stock 50amp alt + elvac reg E-140-UT) for a 105 amp 90's GM alternator that has the regulator integrated (Delco Remy can't find part no. off of the thing). Had to "shave" off a bit of the bottom support of the the alt so that it would fit, but otherwise great service.

You can see the pics in my post in the Slixer's Gallery... Www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56322
(actually second post has the stock 50amp alt I fried and second to last has the new alt)

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'71 Dodge Dart, old Chrysler Corp.
My slant 6 will never, ever, be unrepairable