There are 2 external ballast resistors in the ignition system.
It's the early D Jetronic system.
As I mentioned before the engine was running strong before
the suspension work and new water pump. I'm pretty sure the distributor was reinstalled correctly. I just came in from measuring voltages across the
ballasts and inspecting the points per a troubleshooting guide. Again, I have a steady on off spark to ground from the coil wire while cranking the engine. I have an intermittent spark from a pulled plug wire that I attached a spark plug to. The same steady spark that I see from the coil wire I don't see coming from the spark plug. Also after careful inspection I see that the installed rotor is not the correct part number. I'll install the correct rotor tomorrow and see what happens.

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72 350SL #69
73 450SL Parts Car?
78 450sl Parts Car
79 450SLC - Sold
1985 280sl
87 190E 2.6 - Donated
90 300E-Junked
97 E420