Some of your more glamorous photos on the forum, ha! Brian, I'm like you, I thought the resistor lasted until it basically burned out, and then it didn't work at all. Perhaps that's what the other post was referring to. People hot shot these (bypass)upon startup in order to give more juice to the startup ignition circuit.
Here’s where the ballast resistor goes if you have a Pertronix ignition conversion system.
Paul