Explain this coil question

[Don]

Little 36 quit again,thought I would change out coil,this is a 8 ba engine,running on 12 volts. old coll read about 4 ohms pri current draw should be about 3 amps thru points. But measurement is only 1 amp,
Put new coil a accell 12 volt coil /1.5 ohms primary,added a ballast res to bring up res to about 4 ohms,measure current at about 1.5 amps,should have been about 3,,,remove ballast res,now just coil res of 1.5 ohms and have current of 3.5 amps thru points,starts and runs great!dont know about on road it’s raining put
According to paper current not draw would be about 8 amps??????