Triumph Repair: spitfire has no spark, ballast resistor, pertronix

Question
I changed the distibutor to  a pertronix in my 78 spitfire and rushed and hooked the coil backwards and tried to start it.the pertronix started to smoke so I put the points back in and get no spark put in new coil still no spark set points gap no spark.Its a 12v coil could it be the ballast resistor thanks Jeff

Answer
Jeff,

First off, if you're running a ballast resistor then you should be running a 6V coil.

Have you checked the voltage at the + terminal on the coil with the ignition on?  With points open you'll still see 12V at that terminal.  Points closed it should be roughly 6V.   

I'd be worried that when the Pertonix failed you might have damaged one of the other wires in the ignition circuit.  

Some time with a voltmeter will reveal if you did or not.


Cheers,

Jim