Rather than changing coils I would have put a ballast resistor in the circuit between the coil and the distributor.
Normally it is pretty easy to tell which terminal on the starter solenoid is the "start"
one. Most of the 444/544 only had 2, one for the battery cable and one for the "start" wire.
If a later starter has been installed you may have two small terminals on the solenoid.
If so, generally the larger one is for starting and the smaller one is for bypassing the
ballast during starting. But ALWAYS, the start terminal is the one that, when you apply
6 or 12 volts to it, cranks the engine. BTW a 6 volt starter works well on 12 volts.
It may be bad if the engine does not start pretty quick because then the starter may
overheat. But generally more rapid starter operation results in quicker starting.
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George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma