Distributor questions

[Russell in Tulsa]

Originally Posted by Dbbc

Spend a good part of the weekend trying to figure the issues with the car not firing. Unfortunately to no avail. I took apart the distributor and went thru the process of checking everything following Les Andrews procedures. Everything seems to check ok, I am getting spark at the end of the coil wire as well as at the point (however not sure about the quality of the spark, seems ok). I do have a new body and rotor, how critical is the equal spacing between the rotor and the contacts? I got pretty .025 on 3 and 4, 2 a little more and 1 has a larger gap.
(I am not sure if the rotor will be able to reach the .025 gap with the contact on 1, already file contact 4 quite a bit).
Secondly regarding the coil, following Les instructions. I should be able to measure 1.6 to 1.8 ohms between the lead (I got .5) and about 6.7 to 10 ohms between the lead and the center of the coil ( I got over 10 ohms). I bought a new coil and get about the same measurement ? So I am confuse if have an issue with the coil (the coil give me sparks, but not sure if they are strong enough). Could that be an issue?
Lastly could the timing be so off that the car does not fire. I am thinking that I am timing the car correctly but on the old rotor and distributor body someone put a mark on it, but it is 180 degrees form the contact to #1 cylinder? I am missing something?
thank you for all your suggestions.

The last paragraph talks of a mark 180 degrees off.

#1 in the dizzy body is at about 4 o'clock. Are you saying the mark is about the 10 o'clock position?

You are setting the timing to #1 at 4 o'clock, Correct?-