I need some help. I would like to replace my ignition coil. What are the steps that I need to do. Also, I currently have an external ceramic ballast resistor, can I upgrade my coil and get rid of that or is that required?

Sounds like you're running a points set-up. Yes you need to keep your ceramic block(resistor)but you can up-grade to a better/hotter coil and/or swap whole distributor to an HEI.

doug is correct if you eliminate resistor you will burn the point up

I just performed a points to electrical conversion using the Crane XR-i conversion kit. Does this make a difference?