No fire from coil
 

I bought a 50 custom parts car. I'am trying to start the engine. Wiring under dash is shot.I'am trying to hot wire it.I have voltage going to the coil,voltage going to points. When I hit the starter the points have fire. I do not have a spark from the coil wire. Any ideas what the problem is ? I have tried 2 coils.

Re: No fire from coil
 

have you tried to ground out wire coming from coil? coil wires cruddy, condenser bad, rotor button/distributor cap cracked,

Re: No fire from coil
 

Since the fire from the coil is checked to ground before the distributor, I would first clean the point contacts, check for freyed or shorted wire in the distributor, then replace the condenser.

Re: No fire from coil
 

I had a similar problem. Had juice to the point but not to the plugs. Changed 2 coils and had the same thing. Clean the points and be sure of the gap. My gaping was way off. I clean the points corrected the gaping and started right up.

Re: No fire from coil
 

Thanks for the reply's. I will check the point's first.

Re: No fire from coil
 

You can open the points manually with a screw driver with the power to the negative side of the coil (positive ground). Just be careful not to touch metal or ground anything that shouldn't be. With a long coil wire to near engine ground, you should be able to get a spark from the coil each time you open the points. If the points arc much at all, you need a new condenser. Bad condenser = weak or no spark and burned points. Polarity of the coil is also important. Positive ground is connected backward from negative ground unless you have an old coil that is still marked Dist and Ign or something like that.

Load-O-Matic distributors have a wire inside there that can short out so check that too.

Re: No fire from coil
 

As in post #4, when this has happened to one of my cars from just sitting, it was oxidation on the points. You might try pulling some 2000 grit wet/dry paper through both sets of points and see if that is all that is the matter.