Thank you, Andrewh. I do appreciate your help. I may need your guidance again when I go to install my Pertronix kit. Do you retain the ballast resistor when you install the Pertronix? Or do you bypass it entirely? Perhaps break out the ceramic resistance wire and then wire it terminal-to-terminal to keep the OE look, such as a previous poster did?

Actually checking this out can be easier than all of the above. Remove your distributor cap and turn the engine over by hand till the points are closed, Turn on the key and open the points by hand. If you don't see a slight spark at the points when you open them your missing voltage somewhere, or your ground wire on the breaker plate has separated inside. If you think you don't have volts to the + on the coil, put some there with a jumper wire and try to start. If you have a meter, check to see if you have volts going into the coil and coming out….but you will only measure volts at the - side IF the points are OPEN. Now also make sure your condenser is tight (this will give you a bigger spark across the points). If you take your wire from the coil and prop it up about ¼ inch from your block, when you open your points with the key on you should have a spark, nice and blue. Check some of these things and eventually there isn't that many things that can go out on you, you'll get it. Good luck.

The absolute best way to set point gap is with a dwell meter. Using a feeler gauge is just a guide.

Dwell meters used to be really cheap like less than $30. But now with electronic systems around not many cars driving have them so stores don't really have a need to stock them.

Points systems work They have worked for years but there is maintenance with them.

Are you trying to just get the car started or change over to a new system?

if you gut the balist res and just use the shell,it would be best to solder the ends on the #10 stranded wire to make a good connection



since this is an old cast iron duel point dist I would pull it and see if it has side to side movment

if it does it will need rebuilt,the shaft wobble is common but like said not the rule when trouble shooting

and you may check into finding a diff dist and go to single points,then pertronix

pertronix may have a duel pick up conversion also so check with them or a dealer

good luck and update us when you find your problem

My reply was for trouble shooting the problem not a fix to run the car.If you follow those steps you can find your problem.

Thank you for all your help, everyone. The culprit was indeed the ignition coil. I have a correctly date-coded coil on order from Year One!

Regards,
Scott

Just for future use...

To answer how they work.. All inductive ignition coil ignition systems work this way:

You have a primary side, consisting of battery, ignition switch, ballast, coil, points, and condensor; and a secondary side consisting of the coil, wires, distributor cap and rotor, and spark plugs. The battery supplies the power. The ballast lowers the power down so the coil and points themselves do not overheat and be damaged. The power comes into the coil on it's positive side from the ballast/battery, and energizes a set of windings in it. The points connect the primary windings in the coil to the ground side. As the rubbing block spins, the corners force the points open, which breaks the circuit. As that circuit is broken, the electrical field in the coil primary windings collapses. There is a second set of windings inside a coil, called the secondary set. As the field collapses around this second set, a huge amount of energy is "induced" into them. They are connected to the coil tower, and the coil wire, and down stream of the distributor cap and rotor are the wires and spark plugs. So the spark of the secondary, is generated by the collapse of the primary. The points control the length of time the primary is closed and the coil primary windings are "charging". This is why if you leave your key on, and the ballast bypassed, the coil gets so hot. Also why MP Gold boxes say "not for street use".. They put a lot of juice the the coil primary windings 100% of the time. The point gap, or more precisely the dwell(the length of time in crank degrees), is the amount of time the secondary has to induce the spark. I use the shortest dwell spec I can (28°) so the coil has the most time to charge the primary windings. That ".010 gap" usually gives about 32° of dwell.

All inductive ignitions do this in one way or another. If you knwo how points work, you know how MSD, MP, FBO, Accell, Pertronix, Mallory, Jacobs, and anyone I missed ignitions work...