Encounter my first issue today. I was finishing the AC and heat install and was topping up rad so had to run the engine to burp the air out.

It was tough starting in but it hasn't been fired in a number of weeks so I thought nothing of it. Got it running eventually by closing choke plate manually. (Electric choke linkage jamming... An issue for another day )

Any way it ran dandy and I was warming it up, waiting for thermostat to open. In the mean time I was adjusting the throttle cable that was a bit tight. The car was at about 160 degrees and thermostat just about to open when I heard a bit of a pop out the back. It sounded like the muted backfire, almost the tone of a piece of aluminum popping. The car stumbled but it recovered.

30 seconds later, same sound and car just quit. Tried to restart... No way no how. Turns over but no fire.

It's getting fuel. I can see the carb squirting. No probs there. I'm thinking it might be the coil failed? I thought this mainly because it was so sudden and I think that noise or pop was a kind of a back fire, but hard to tell in garage as it's noisey.

As an initial test, I tried arcing with a plug wire to ground to see if any spark while cranking engine, but no spark there.


Next I disconnected coil wires. Tested for primary resistance across terminals. Was 0.7 ohms ok I suppose as it is a 0.6 model.


Next tested secondary resistance from + post to HV post. Supposed to be 9000 ohm, tested at 8300. Not sure if this is ok.... Possibly a fail here.


Re connected all. With Ignition turned on I used test lamp to see that there is ignition power at + post on coil. Good here.


Next used the test lamp across the positive and negative terminals while cranking. No light. I'd have thought it would come on and then flash as rotor turned. Nothing. Is this a fail? Or can something else cause this test to fail.


Nothing looks wrong inside distributor cap, All wires look connected... Nothing loose, Rotor turns when cranking... Car was running fine then quits???


An issue or cause may be that I'm pretty sure this is an oil filled canister coil, pertronix 45011 coil and it is mounted sideways at back of engine in a bracket attached to manifold. This may be bad for oil filled canister. If it is the coil I think this may be the cause... Or am I wrong here?


Help? Did I miss something? What else can I test?