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Yes the cloth covered wire is still there.

Tried checking and redoing everything that I touched. Still no spark at the plugs. Everything looks right to me but I must be missing something.

I'm not very good with electrical diagnoses and fixes. I'll have to get some hands on help for this one.

Thanks for the advice though.

Assuming the wire between coil and distributor is OK, then a quick way to rule out a short is to place a voltmeter between the coil terminal going to the distributor or the distributor terminal itself and ground. With ignition on, if points are open you should read 6v. If points are closed, 0v.

Move the engine a bit so the points either open or close and verify the voltage changes. If it never goes off 6v something is either not connected or not letting the points close to ground. If it never leaves 0v something is shorted. If you have an OD, the ign cutout has also been known to act up shorting the ignition.

If the voltage at coil supply side drops much below 5 volts when cranking, the battery may be weak. When that happens the coil can't supply a sufficient spark.

I'll give this a try.

Thanks.

Negative terminal on ignition coil reads .20V with the ignition on and the points open or closed.

Terminal on the side of the distributor reads .10V with the ignition on and the points open or closed.

Same readings when I switched the connections to a known good ignition coil.

My battery is charged and reading 6.26V.

So this means that there is a short between the ignition switch and the coil?

Disconnect the wire from the distributor to ignition coil terminal. With key on, the terminal with yellow wire from ign switch should measure 6v to ground. With nothing connected on the terminal going to dist it should also read 6v. If those are correct, ign switch, wiring and coil are all OK. If not 6v on terminal from ign switch, then wire or ign switch.

Keep the meter on the coil terminal going to distributor and touch or hold the wire going to distributor to the terminal. If the points are open you will still read 6v. If points are closed or if there is a short it will drop down to 0v or the .25v slightly above 0. If turning the engine slightly to make sure the points are open does not cause it to go to 6v there is a problem or a short in the distributor.

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I'll run through this process tomorrow and let you know the outcome.

Ignition switch terminal reads 6.15V when the ignition is turned on and 0V when it is off as it should.

Disconnected the terminal at the distributor. With the ignition off, it reads 0V and with the ignition on, it reads 6.15V.

With the ignition switch on, the reading between the ignition coil terminal and the distributor terminal reads 6.15V regardless of whether the points are open or closed.

Therefore there is a short in the distributor, correct?

With the ignition switch on, the reading between the ignition coil terminal and the distributor terminal reads 6.15V regardless of whether the points are open or closed.

If the wire between the distributor and coil is still disconnected and one lead of the meter was on the coil terminal and the other lead was on the distributor terminal then yes, there is a short.

BUT--If the distributor wire is hooked up to the coil and one lead of the meter was on the coil and the other was on engine or frame ground then no. If that is the case, the constant 6.15 volts would mean the points are isolated or not closing or connecting to ground for some reason.

Yes, the wire between the ignition coil and distributor is disconnected. One multimeter probe is on the distributor terminal and the other is on the loose (disconnected) end of the wire that runs to the ignition coil terminal.

When the wire is connected at both the ignition coil and the distributor terminal, the multimeter reads 0V regardless of whether the points are open or closed.

I will be taking the distributor in to a local guy, who specializes in restoration / rebuilding of antique distributors to find out what happened and to have him correct it.

Howard, your help has been very much appreciated.

one of three things, disconnect the wire(s)inside the distributer going to the points, now check the the condensor lead to ground on ohms, it should show open. then check from the terminal on the side of the distributer to ground, should also be open,(i have seen the wire from the terminal to the points, get chaffed, and short to the base plate, if so replace the wire, cant see the insulator on the points going. the distributer is not a complex thing, if you remove the distributer, line up the rotor to the case and mark it before you remove it. Something is shorted in the distributer, just a matter of figuring what it is, i would be thinking the condensor, or the lead in wire chaffed or the lead in wire touching the base plate at the points.