No Spark Please Help

[Aaron Datsun]

Car Information:

-1972 Datsun 510, trying to finish a L20B swap

- Coil Unknown brand (plain black)

- Dual points coil

 

 

Situation: I had the spark plugs off one position on my first couple of tries to start the car, so I started tinkering. I checked the spark coming from the coil last night, it was weak, The battery was tired so I figured it just needed to charge. I didn't adjust points or anything inside the distributor. I did loosen the timing bolt and twist the distributor multiple times when trying to get the car to fire. I also hooked up the wrong lead to the positive post of the coil at one point in time too. When I determined I had the firing order incorrect I rectified that, and cranked, but it still did not fire. I decided to pull the coil wire again to check spark, no spark from the coil (I know I had spark earlier today) 

 

Some Notes:

- Ballast resistor was getting very warm at the beginning of the day, now it isn't

- I checked all fuses and fuseable links and the all tested fine

 

Testing done so far:

- Primary Winding resistance testing seems to pass (one of my segments on my Voltmeter is bad so I can't see exact reading)

- Secondary winding resistance (through lead wire) is 8k, which seems OK for the 5k-10k that it should be

- 12 Volts to the coil in the on position: Yes verified

- 12 Volts during cranking: Have not verified, but jumped the starter while in the "on position" and still didn't throw a spark 

- Checked that the points

  -- Points separate as the engine rotates

  -- Cleaned all surfaces with light sand paper

- Finally I tested the coil via the method in the youtube link below, my coil seems to throw a spark, but it is VERY weak, not what I would expect from a coil for sure

 

Questions:

- Is the coil bad?

- Did I not test something that I should have?

- Can a coil test OK, but still be bad?

- Can you burn out a coil? 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJYJ3KvPhhY

 

 

[Doctor510]

Did you remember that all 510's have a "start" circuit?  Firing order, 1-3-4-2  Counter clock wise!  Is the rotor installed, sounds dumb, BUT...   Neg side of coil to the dist?  Check for short btw spade on side of dist and dist body for short, check wiring inside dist as well. 

[Aaron Datsun]

I did check the circuit, against the wiring diagrams, it is correct. I did not check the spades to see if they were grounding out, I checked the firing order of 1-3-4-2. The neg side if the coil is definitely to the distributor.

 

Checked the points wiring, one was definitely loose, from the terminal into the points, I tightened back.

 

Should I be concerned about a weak to no spark from the coil though?

[Doctor510]

You might get a new condenser for the dist, 

[Aaron Datsun]

The distributor was the problem. It was not working correctly (it was a dual points). I had a single point distributor in a box, I tried it and it worked much better. It was the primary condensor I believe. I will test it out and try to get it fixed for the future. Thank you for all the help. 

[banzai510(hainz)]

use a point coil and run a ballast resisitor with that distributor

[Aaron Datsun]

Copy will do

[Dolomite]

With all the cool shit going on your car, I’d look into an electronic dizzy. Wether remote ignitor or matchbox, you have better spark and reliability. It’s nice to only have to replace a cap and rotor once in a damn long time.

[Aaron Datsun]

I am going to, but needed to get her on the road first. I haven't done the research for an electronic dizzy yet.