overheating coil

1hc72

Member
i have an issue. just got my engine runing,(71 1210 345 2bbl) will run GREAT for up to 15 min then will shut down and will refuse to to restart im getting great fuel supply to the carb. any ideas why its doing what its doing or am i overlooking something stupid
 
Next step is to check for voltage at the coil and spark while it won't start. Intermittent problems are not fun.
 
The reason for the coil getting hot with a breaker points distributor is improper ballast resistance. Not only is the coil overheating, but the point set is too. Post some good pics of your coil and the wires that are attached to it.
 
@Scoutboy74 you are a genius. the coil i bought has a build in ballast resistor AND the external resisto. so that is wha ti did. I just realized it and i thank you for showing me that, will be changing out the coil with one for an external only and it should fix the issues
 
Not a genius. Just been down this well traveled road a time or three. Yeah, you need a standard coil that will have a primary resistance of @ 1.5 ohms measured across the polarity terminals. Your truck originally came with a 72 inch long resistance wire that provided the 1.8 ohm external resistance value, but decades and owners later, bad things can happen to that wire. Damage and ignorant length modifications will render them less effective, so the common fix is to ditch the resistor wire in favor of a 1.8 ohm ceramic ballast resistor. The @ 1.8 ohm external resistance together with the @ 1.5 ohm internal coil resistance will keep both the points and the coil from overheating.
 
took her for a drive coil is def hot, btu i pout about 2 miles on her after about 8 min of idle and she ran great, once again i thank you for your help. you guys are awsome
 
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