The ballast resistor on a 122 is built into the coil. So if you changed
coils, you probably don't have one.

I don't know anything about the Crane system except that most folks say
they are good. Likewise your tach. But you might have it hooked up
wrong. I've had 73 model cars with tachs read 1000 rpm as soon as I turned
on the switch, before I started the engine. Normally your tach should
be driven off the negative side of the coil, since the positive side is
always hot, so you won't get any speed sensing there.

Is your ignition timing right? If it is advanced too far, your engine
might be kicking back against the starter, which hinders starting.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma