On Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 7:25:21 PM UTC-4, Clare wrote:
On Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:19:17 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

wrote:
On Monday, April 24, 2017 at 4:34:08 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I think
the reason for the poor spark must be corroded connections somewhere
in the ignition circuit. But I'm still wondering why they designed the
ignition circuit with a ballast resistor. Anybody know?
Thanks,
Eric

Forgot to say that the weak spark might be caused by a bad condenser.
THe condenser helps keep the spark from occurring across the points
instead of at the spark plug

I've got no familiarity with what a condenser is (outside of HVAC) in car circuitry. But thanks for saying what it does.
It is actually a Capacitor.
A rose by any other name - - -

Its just that a condenser also refers to the hot, liquid, high pressure 'low side" of a vehicle's air conditioning system. Its not always a good idea to have two different auto parts with the same name.