ignition problems

[Ordsgt]

I was helping a friend troubleshoot his stock 1931 pickup. Stock except for running modern points. We would get it running and it would either quit on its own or would not start again. At one point we were chasing ghosts. I would get voltage at 6 v on both sides of the coil and points then it would change to 6v and 4.5 or nothing. Bypassing the ignition switch resulted in the same results. Changed points , condenser and problem persisted. no spark at plugs or very weak. Also changed the coil all to no avail. Pulled the distributor and then found the problem. The wire from the ignition switch into the armored cable was frayed at the outlet to the distributor. There was only 4 strands of wire still connected and also shorting on the cable.
Sorry for the long story ( short compared to the time it took us)


Des