Can't start....

So, I'm new to this post and forums in general, so I apologize if I'm not posting in the right place... I acquired a 1937 Pontiac 6 from my brother in Virginia and hauled it on a trailer down to Texas. It ran fine until he stopped driving it 20 years ago because he didn't want all the salt from the road rusting it out. It hasn't been started in 20 years. I've done the following and still can't get it to crank...

1. Put new battery in it (6 volt)

2. Gas tank was dry, so I put about a gallon in the tank and some in the carb directly

3. The starter engages and fan turns, but it never 'catches'

4. Pulled plug and looked for spark - but nothing

5. Pulled center distributor wire that goes to coil and inserted plug, then grounded it and tried cranking, but still no spark

6. Checked wire coming from ignition going to coil and measured 6V coming in.

7. Checked resistance between both small terminals on coil and measured continuity.

8. Checked resistance between small terminal and center plug where wire goes to distributor, zero continuity. Nothing registered on my ohm meter between secondary winding output and primary winding input.

Does this mean I have a bad coil? Is there any other tests I should perform before I spend money on a replacement coil?

Thanks

37Pontiac in Texas

Obviously it does crank (you said the fan turned) but doesn't fire. Take the cap off and with the ignition turned on open the points manually. You should have a spark. If not check that the spring on the points is not grounding out. Disconnect the wires from the points and clean the contacts. If you still don't have a spark it certainly could be your coil. The biggest problem when a vehicle has sat is corrosion in all the connections.

Good luck

In your description, #4 and #5 are interesting....

4- you remove a plug, it has to be grounded to spark, the easiest test for spark to plug is take lead off plug terminal and see if it arcs to ground or terminal

5- you took coil lead directly to a plug? Interesting.....and means nothing, as purpose of points "breaking" is to collapse electrical field in coil and thus provide high intensity spark...

As mentioned check points...

Also...

I'll tell you from recent, personal, experience, on the gas tank....how do you know it's dry and not just solidified old gas? If there are traces of old gas in tank, new gas will partially dissolve and give you all sorts of fuel problems...

Thanks for the suggestions… I'll give them a try and let you know how it works out...

37Pontiac

From past experience checking coils in the same manner you described in steps # 6,7,and 8, I would say that you,ve got a short circuited coil. Take your ohmeter to the parts store and perform steps #7 and 8 on a brand new coil (with their permission of course). That,s what I did the first time I had to deal with a bad coil.Step # 8 is the key.