Strange starting problem

[Winston]

Hey everyone,
I have a really odd issue going on here.  If you hook a wire to the ballast resistor directly to the battery, it starts right up.  However, when you try to hook the resistor up correctly, here is what happens...the wire that comes out of the harness on the firewall has voltage going to it, but when you hook the wire to the ballast resistor, the voltage goes away as soon as you plug it in.  Any ideas why this would happen?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Winston 

[6packCuda]

That sounds like one for Chryco Psycho.

[Chryco Psycho]

poor contact at the firewall plug maybe ? just enough contact to show voltage but not enough to carry any amperage
pull the fire wall plug & clean & tighten the conecters