A little history; about two weeks ago I took my car to a cruise-in. When I went to leave that night my car started really, really hard; I almost didnt think it was going to start. A couple of days after I went to mess with it a little to see what the problem was. I would have to crank for almost 30 seconds before it would start to spit, sputter and then finally want to run. I had to keep it reved up so it wouldnt die for about 10-15 seconds. The problem continued to get worse till the point now where the car wont even start.

Fuel, air, timing all check out which leaves me with spark; I have none or very little. Tried a jumper wire to the coil with no results. Changed out my Pertronix with points; nothing. Different coil; nothing. No spark at the points or coil. I cant get anything to happen with a jumper wire either. So what the heck is going on? Hopefully, someone with a little more understanding of electrical/ignition systems can give me some insight. Could it be a bad battery ground? The ground cable seems pretty warm for only cranking the car over for a short while. Any suggestions?

 

Are you running a MSD control Box? I had a problem with mine. It wasnt getting enough power to get a spark to the coil I had to move it to another spot on the car to get it to run again.

 

First, do you have voltage at the coil with the key in the run position? What do you mean, Jumper wire? Where did you connect it? Do you have voltage on the coil + terminal with the key in the run position? NO, check your fuse's for a bad (rusted) fuse or fuse holder. I would also check the engine ground cable to make sure it has a good connection.

 

Well, if you hot wired the coil, and your points were set up right, that only leaves cap and rotor, which is not likely unless you 'never' do your maintanance.
The bottom line is, a known good coil and points, hot wired, has to produce spark. That's how they used to steal cars.
The only way this setup won't work is an incomplete circuit. Of course the usuall thing is to actually remove the ground wire(from the battery) to the engine block and clean them.
Sounds likley. Remove, wire brush, replace, both ends.
Sand the button on the cap, the end of the rotor, and the cap contacts. If you use a spark checker you will have spark, if all the connections are properly made. You can't rely on the motor starting as a test for spark.
Otherwise there is another problem.

 

No MSD box. I havent had a chance to put a voltmeter on it yet but I did pop the dizzy cap to see if there was any visible spark at the points when cranking the motor over and there was none. No visible spark at the coil either.

I used alligator clip wire and hooked it directly to the positive side of the battery to the positive side of the coil.

The ground cable is a newer cable (2 years old) with no deposits on the ground cable or button on the battery.

 

I know; thats what has me stumped.

 

Sounds as if the coil itself is bad, if you applied 12v directly to it and still nothing. Swapping them out is easy enough. Keep us posted.

 

I did swap my current coil out with another and still nothing.

 

this might be a really dumb question, but is the distributor even turning? How did you check the timing with no or little spark?

 

I was origonally thinking this was a fuel issue as you said -"I would have to crank for almost 30 seconds before it would start to spit, sputter and then finally want to run."

That sounds like it was fooded. How and where are you checking spark? Are the points opening and closing? Ifyo have power to the coil, the points open and close, and the coli is good....it's impossible for it not to fire. Well, almost...how about a bad condensor?