skids, this is an old style hei. no ignition box. i thought the dist could be issue, but can't get spark from coil, so while dist is still in picture, i've got to get past the coil.

gs, yes its an old style coil, MSD Blaster (P/N 8202), which is an external resistor type. the reason this is being run is that its an old build. the engine has been running before, very well, it was a low 11 second car. this mess started with replacing the starter and went from there. but the coil isn't acting like i think (which don't mean much) it should. i'm confused in the fact that there is current on negative side and i'm not sure there is suppose to be any. once i can get spark on coil wire, then i can work to dist. there is also the issue that as i remember this type of coil should pulse when checked from positive to negative on coil.

let me know anything else that will help you narrow this down. thanks for the replies.