1971 Cutlass.(350 auto) What coil should I have, the one with an external resistor, or internal?

 

The '71 was made with an external ignition resistor.

How your car may have been modified over the past 40 years is another question...

- Eric

 

When I was ordering a new one, that was one of the choices. Just wanted to be sure I got the right one.

 

Put a test light...(a small one with two prongs that go back a small housing that includes the light) on the posts of the coil, one on neg. one on pos. No light. (key on, but not cranking position). Ran 12 ga, wire from pos. battery post to coil at negative...nothing. Bad coil?

 

Well, you should have juice to the (+) terminal on the coil with the ignition on:
12v if the points are open, about 8 or 9v if they're closed or if the engine's running.

No power means there's a problem with the circuit on the way to the coil.

Did you say that you connected the positive battery terminal to the negative coil terminal?
That won't work. It needs to go to the positive coil terminal.
Did it make a big spark? If it did, then your points may be shot now.

- Eric

 

No spark whatsoever. Juice at points, found that out when setting gap a couple of days ago!

 

So if you put a test light from the negative coil terminal to ground and open and close the points (with the ignition turned on), does the light go on and off?

Do you have a "Points Test" scale on your tach/dwell meter, and if so, does it say that the points are good?

If you disconnect the wire on the negative coil terminal and attach a jumper, put 12v to the positive coil terminal, and connect a spark plug to the coil output, do you get a spark if you touch the negative terminal jumper to ground and then pull it away?

... and you didn't answer the questions from the last post...

- Eric

 

Ran 12 ga jumper wire from + battery to + coil w/key at accessories, nothing. I do not have a dwell meter, timing light only. I have a Craftsman multi meter hand held, do not know how to use. It has settings for ohms, battery (9v & 1.5v), VDC, Vac, Aac. How do I check for + at the coil? It's difficult due to the fact that I don't have a helper to crank the engine. Car currently won't start, which is how all of this got started. Can buy dwell meter a Sears tomorrow.

 

If your multimeter only goes up to 9v, then you need another one, as your car has a 12v system.

As far as checking for juice, use a test light. Just solder 2 wires to the terminals of an 1156 bulb, and solder alligator clips on the other ends. You can lay the light on top of a windshield wiper as you crank the car if you need to do both at once (though there really is no need to crank the car if you follow my troubleshooting suggestions above).
Also, if you want to be able to crank it over easily, you can just connect a heavy-duty button (or a light-duty button and a relay) from somewhere in the engine compartment to the S terminal of the starter.

I expect you can get a Dwell / Tach from Sears, but if you've got a bit more time, you can probably find one at a yard sale or flea market for $5.

- Eric

 

I plan on replacing the black wire that goes from the points to the coil. While looking at the points (no pitting etc.) I noticed that it appeared "lumpy". Ran my fingers down the length of it and it feels like it's fried under the sheathing.

 

The wire from the coil to the points may have an unusual feel because it is made of unusually fine strands of copper, for flexibility as the points plate move around, varying the timing. Replacing it with a less flexible wire will cause problems in the long run.
Just check its continuity to be sure it reads 0Ω (you know you've got to get a decent multimeter sooner or later...).

- Eric