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I thought I isolated this problem ,not.when i turn the ignition on my "38 12 amp gauge goes to max draw,battery drops at least a half a volt she will start and will get some charge but only at high revs.I switched ignition switch no help,removed light switch cleaned terminals the two resistors points appeard fine,same problem tried bypassing the switch altogether and only hooking up the feed to the ignitiion switch not even hooking up the starter button still amp gauge goes to the max, only when I disconnect the armoured coil wire no drain checked the connections in the bottom of the coils, ok my only guess is I have either bad coil,regulator,generator,coilwire help,please

How about lifting the belt off the generator and turning the key on, and advising what if anything happens. Then do the same thing with the armature wire disconnected at either the regulator or generator.

well, good news bad news. after cleaning all connctions, Ino longer get the big drawdonwn the bad news is she turns over but won't start. I'm quite sure I damaged one of the coils attempting to losen one of the screws in the bottom of one of the coils and and one of the bakalite top caps. also the two wires on each side of the distributer i hooked up on the outer cap nuts of each coil not sure if this is correct

Don't know the answer, but on the NorthEast brand dual-coil setup for the Eights and SuperEights of 33/34, either of the capnuts at the top of the coil provides the correct primary circuitry. Perhaps the AutoLites are constructed similarly, but a simple check with an ohmeter should give the answer.

Guess you can disregard my prior suggestion about determining if the generator had become "motorized".

Owen,thanks very much. It is one of the coils.Now comes the fun hunting a new one down

It is one of the coils.Now comes the fun hunting a new one down

No problem there, Bob Conolle has been making these coils for many years now. See his ad in any issue of PAC's news bulletin, and perhaps elsewhere. Or send me a PM and I'll dig out his info and forward to you.