How do i know what coil i have already got on my car ie normal/ballest.
Also how can i work out wheather i need a ballest or normal

Does that make any sense.

It is a 1976 ford crossflow

Cheers

burtons catalogue page 66 says use a multimeter on to check the voltage on the positive wire of the coil with the ignition on. 9v means ballast. 12v means no ballast

That will only work if the system already has a ballast resistor wired in AND the points are closed (or shorted by a jumper). --

If the coil is a Ford/Fomoco/Autolite type with round threaded post termminals it is 99% certain it requires a ballast.

Check the resistance between + and - will be 3 -4 ohms for a 12V coil and 1 -2 ohms for a ballast coil, though you might also get a low reading with a "sports" coil.

Caber

If I´m not wrong, also the 12v coil is <1ohm if Bosch inductive sensor electronic system is used.

(Called fast charging high performance coil by Bosch).

/Hasse

If i measure the ohms between + and negative i dont get any reading at all.
If i measure it between + and the h.t point i get 8.7 ohms.
Any ideas why i dont get any thing between the + and - terminal?

Cheers