Technical 12 V coil test?

'49 Merc Flatty tweaked, running a 12V system & electronic distributor. Runs idles fine in nuertral but breaks up under load. Typically thinking coil? Checked resistance on primary and secondary at 1.5 Ohms & 8500 Ohms. Internet says 1.5 on primary good but vague on secondary. Some say 8000 to 12000 ok others say under 11000 no good? what's concensus here?

 

Condensor

 

Yup, condenser.

 

Notice he said electronic distributor. They do not use a conventional condenser.

 

Yeah, 8.5K ohms seems low. I'd expect to see 12 to 15K ohms for a good output.

 

What sparkplug gap are you running?
https://forums.msdperformance.com/showthread.php?5604-Proper-spark-plug-gap-with-MSD-6a

 

Lisle makes a coil tester , part # 50660

 

does the electronic require a resistor before coil to drop it down to 9 or a a straight 12 volt.

 

Not using ballast per, note from Mallory on this distributor indicating distributor requires 1.4 ohms of coil resistance, my coil is delivering 1.5 Ohms as previously indicated. Also specifically states if using a coil with less than 1.4 ohms, you must use a ballast resistor that will achieve the required 1.4 ohm total resistance. As the secondary coil resistance seemed a bit low got new Pertronix 40001 coil and that seems to have fixws the problem.

Thx