[Flathead Fever]

Did this engine run before the Petrionix distributer was installed.

Your ammeter should have a movement on the gauge while the points are closed, and current is flowing. If there is no movement it could just be that the points are open.

If you have voltage to the points and they break open and closed when it's rotated, then I would check the coil. It's pretty common for them to fail, but before you do that you need make sure the carb is squirting fuel in there and it sounds normal when you crank it. If it's stripped a timing gear or broke a timing belt it will sound noticeably different while cranking.

No spark.

1. Check the available voltage to the distributer with the points open. You need to make
sure, you have the correct coil with the correct voltage to it. They are all different so
you need to find out which coil you have and the voltage it was designed to run on.
2. Make sure the points are filed smooth and have the proper gap.
3 Make sure you have power to the points and none of internals on the
distributers are shorted out.
4. Check the condenser resistance.
5. Check the rotor for cracks and the cap, Look at the pieces real close.
6. If that's good, check the available voltage to the coil. Check it across the resistor if it has
one. Make sure you have the proper available voltage to the coil with the points open or
disconnect the wire coming from the key and check the voltage.
7. While it's cranking make sure the distributor is rotating. At work we had distributers
break the roll pins that hold on the drive gears and the distributer won't rotate. Check it
for excessive side play
8. Check the coil wire resistance. See if its sparks holding it away from a ground.
9. Make sure the distributer is installed correctly.
10. if all that's good then it's probably the coil. Do a resistance check on it.

I was a mechanic for 30 years during the points era on a fleet of 400 phone company vehicles. Like I said, the very first thing you do is make sure the carb is squirting fuel in there and it sounds normal when you crank it. If it stripped a timing gear or broke timing belt it will sound noticeably different, like it has no compression. Money was no object, we looked in the vehicles records to see when the points were last replaced and if it's been a while we replace everything because it needed it needs it anyway, the plugs, points, condenser. rotor, cap and wires. 90% of the time that fixed it. If the vehicle was due for a tune-up, we didn't even try to diagnose it because it needed all that stuff anyway. When it didn't fix it than we broke out the voltmeter and compression gauge and went hunting. I actually enjoyed finding the strange stuff that broke, it was fun since I got paid the same if I was diagnosing or changing oil.