OK, let's see if we chalk up another big goof to me.

I had a Mallory distributor with electronic ignition module in storage
for years. I installed it. It worked. I went on a drive and it was great.

THEN I found the instructions that indicate that I was to have a ballast
resistor in the circuit. (It said that running one without the resistor
will "eventually lead to failure".) To my knowledge, I do not have a
ballast resistor in the circuit.

Have I set my ignition on the path to disaster?

Oh, and what kind of ballast resistor do I get? Are they different?

John the Idiot