Ignition question

I have put my Scirocco together with an electronic distributor and the correct black Bosch coil. The sticker on the coil says to use an external ballast resistor, the Bentley test is for .8 ohm resistance in the stock wire.

The engine starts easily and seems to run fine without one. I have 1.6 ohm ballast resistor that I tried and the engine will not start with it.

What's everyone's experience? Do I need to buy a .8 ohm resistor or not? Isn't the voltage from the coil more of an issue for distributors with points? On the other hand, I don't want to second guess the Bosch engineers.

Thanks in advance.

My opinion: re-wire #15 circuit from ignition switch eliminating resistor wire and use stock VW TCI coil (ie: A2, etc) straight up. Simple and effective, all the snot an IT VW needs, and unlikely to cause any problems. phil

Quote:

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I have put my Scirocco together with an electronic distributor and the correct black Bosch coil. The sticker on the coil says to use an external ballast resistor, the Bentley test is for .8 ohm resistance in the stock wire.

The engine starts easily and seems to run fine without one. [/b]

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Joe, I used a Bosch Hall-Effect distributor/ecu on my old WackyWabbit H-Production with a MSD coil & MSD 6AL spark box without a resistance wire. It ran well with no problems.

Cheers, Ryan.

Ditto to what Ryan says!!!!

Thanks everyone for the advise. I drove the Scirocco up and down the driveway for the first time yesterday.

There is also resistance designed into the rotor. I don't believe you must use resistor wires.

The ballast resistor is only necessary when the ignition system uses points.