Very busy lately, but here is what a have so far:

By passed the switchgear and got the coil wire to spark when grounded. With the switch gear bypassed:

1. I removed spark plug number 8 and connected the spark plug wire directly to the coil. I grounded the spark plug and got a spark. I repeated the process for spark plug number 7 and got a spark.

2. I reconnected all the wires back through the distributor cap. I grounded spark plug 8, got a spark. Then grounded spark plug 7, no spark. Plug wires for 7 and 8 are almost 180 degrees across from each other on the distributor cap. I repeated this several times to make sure that the ground connect was good.

3. I pulled off the distributor and noticed the wear pattern on the top of the rotor (contact with the distributor coil wire) had only a half circle pattern. Possibly indicating that there was not a full 360 degrees of contact during rotation, therefore not allowing all spark plugs to fire when necessary. Any insights?

When I did get a spark with the switch gear bypassed, the spark plug wire connected to the coil and spark plug grounded, I reconnected the switch gear, disconnected the by pass wire and resistor and checked again. The coil did not fire (no spark).

In summary here are my assumptions:

a. The points are good because I did get a spark to the number 7 spark plug through the distributor cap and rotor.

b. The switchgear is defective because the coil did fire when the switchgear was bypassed and not when the switchgear was reconnected.

c. I have a half circle wear pattern in the rotor contact (new rotor) from the distributor cap. I put the old rotor back in and got the same result. Not sure what this really means, other than possibly the distributor is also bad.

I am in the process of getting pricing on an upgraded ignition system from Pertronix...Any advice? I am assuming that this is my logical next step. I still don’t know if the timing is off, because the car still won’t start.

Thanks...any advice welcomed

Dana