in my opinion this may be one of those "depends" questions. i don't use msd ignitions so my comments may only be relevant to a point. i have used ignition boxes were bypassing the ballast resister was either required or recommended. i never liked the way my engines ran without some resistance in the system. i'm not sure there was ever a performance advantage in my application by bypassing the resister. i know that measuring voltage at the coil with out the resister was pretty high,14-15+ volts using a good coil, your charging system should be checked for voltage output. i use an msd resister, .8 ohm, and have had good luck with them and the engine runs much smoother. i think 1.9 ohms is too much resistance. you may be getting less than 6 volts to the coil. i'm getting 10-11 volts with the msd resister. i'd try the msd resister first and if there's an improvement then take another step to no resister and see how you like that. another thing i'd do is measure plug wire resistance and plug resistance; that all stacks up. an msd requires some resistance. some prefer to put the resistance in the plug wires and plugs.