Dying problems

[72longbed]

I just installed a 390 in my 72 F100 with a C6 auto. I'm having problems with it dying when I put it in gear, not all the time but sometimes. I drove it across town with no problems but when I went to leave when I dropped it into gear it died. Tried it again and it was fine till I turned the lights on and then it died again. I tried it three more time and as soon as I turned on the light switch it died.
The truck has a Carter AFB carb, Edelbrock manifold, Mallory Unilite distributor, Mallory coil, Mallory noise box thing, Ballast resistor, Hooker headers, and Flowmaster exhaust. When I wired up the Unilite I ran the stock Ford resistance wire (one that originally went to the + on the coil with the points) to the ballast resistor and then a wire out the other side of the Ballast to the + on the coil. Could this be the problem? It has new batt cables, starter, starter cable, and the ground strap from the firewall to the cylinder head is connected. Any suggestions? Thanks

[70shortwide]

When I wired up the Unilite I ran the stock Ford resistance wire (one that originally went to the + on the coil with the points) to the ballast resistor and then a wire out the other side of the Ballast to the + on the coil. Could this be the problem? It has new batt cables, starter, starter cable, and the ground strap from the firewall to the cylinder head is connected. Any suggestions? Thanks

I was thinking of this the whole time i was reading once i saw the parts list. i would pull the ballast resistor and just use the resistor wire. by using both your resisting the power to the points down a lot! you should see a nice little power gain too!

[72longbed]

Thats what I was kinda thinking. I want to keep the ballast because I know those Unilites are pretty prone to burning up. I was thinking of running a switched 12v to the ballast instead of the resistor wire. That is how the guy had it set up in the truck I got the motor from.

[70shortwide]

running 12v directly to the ballast resistor liike you plan to should work fine. there should be 12v at the coil where it hooks in though, so you shouldnt need to run a switch other than as a theft deterent

[fordman]

anohter possibility is a bad ignition switch. they can become loose and wiggle just right and kill the engine. next time you have it running wiggle the switch and see if it dies. but the ressitor thing does make sence also.