Not another coil issue!?

Hey guys been reading on here this evening before posting a repeat but nothing seems identicle.
So... Boat was running decent but the points needed replaced so I just went for an ei conversion from petronics. I installed it with the recommend flame thrower coil.
    After install had to adjust timing... No big deal. Called petronics about mounting the oil filled coil on its side and two techs said absolutely yes as long as the + and - were at three and nine. Great.
     After adjusting timing she ran a bit rough upon revving so in reading the trouble shooting guide jumped my coils wire to the 12v side of resistor and all is well I mean it runs like almost never before. So excited!
     Get down to water..start her up and after only 2 min of running she dies and won't start. After 5 min she lights but really wont perform above idle. I can't really figure it out. I have 12 volts to coil and it is hot but that was per pert tonics tech. Was able to get it to run flawlessly for like 20 secs after the river with water through it. Now it's just not running above idle and I think from my timing light I'm losing spark above 2500 rpm.
Please help! Thanks.

Haha yes I understand. However after $150 in coil and conversion gotta give it a shot.

I think they called it there common questions. Yes in the ignitor intsall it says emphatically in red not to remove ballast resistor. I spoke with petronics today about this because the flame thrower coil says specifically not to be used with a resistor and that it needs 12v. Tech told me that the coil does need 12v but the ignitor install manual says to not remove it only because they are unsure of the coil you will be using. With their flamethrower coil you bypass resistor as per instruction. I understand the two directions contradiction but they said that was a safeguard for a different coil....

I have the flame thrower 1 with 1.5 ohms.
As to the "feed" wire I'm assuming is the red wire from positive side of coil to ei conversion.
It's only a two wire one red. Positive side ....black to neg. on coil.... I didn't check that voltage but I would be the same as coil if I'm thinking correctly. Like 11.98 on meter
Thanks for help btw

That's a good point and the answer is yes. However thats kinda where my knowledge of working with a distributer internals stops.

Gary S wrote: I think you know what to do--- your Tique has been running fine since 76 on points. Is it me or Petronics having alot of trouble lately?

True Dat Gary! Everyone always points a bad finger at points. They worked just fine on engines for 70 years or so.....

600+ points hours here and still ticking. The Chevy for the Skylark will be points as well.

Glad to hear the Tique is running right!

Stuck on the river. Very frustrated. Boat ran great for two minute warm up. Then great for 45 secs of the dock.wont rev above 2500 without shudder and stall. Help!

Hmm, I'm assuming the 76 choke was electric, but I don't know that for sure.......

I assume you pulled the flame arrestor and confirmed that the choke is opening.

If everything else checks out, the Pertronix unit or the coil could be bad. It has been known to happen. Once you get a good one, they can run a long time. I have a Pertronix on my Mercruiser 140 that has been going strong for more than a dozen years, knock on wood.

Have you tried your old coil with the Pertronix unit? Measure the old coil resistance--if around 0.5 to 0.8 ohms, you'll need to have the ballast resistor wired in before the old coil. I'm assuming your ballast resistor is around 0.75 to 1 ohms.

Now I'm dealing with no spark after the top of distributer cap. I have juice to the top rotor contact but not getting any spark at any plugs. Bad cap and rotor? If timing was off becuse of distributer moving would I loose spark to all cylinders?

Ok thanks. Ill be sure to check the choke for a ground as well as other grounds on the boat. I might go back to points for the weekend if all works out return the ei
Diasapointed for sure but...oh well. Thanks for all the help guys! Keep you posted

76 Ski Tique wrote: Hey That ignition key feed ground makes me think. When im cranking to start sometimes all gauges go all the way off or left like theres no power until you let off the kry then they all come back. Could this be a sigh of a bad ground?

The key switch just turns on/off the +12V side of the battery. There is no ground involved, unless you trace the wire through the ignition coil & distributor.

The gauges also do not have a ground (other than the backlighting) - they rely on the sensors to complete the circuit to ground.