1940 Olds electrical

[Guest steveam]

I recently purchased a 1940 olds L90 straight 8. It hasn't run since 1994. It does have compression but I can't get a spark from the coil. I read 6 volt at the Dist and the coil with the ingnition on but cannot get a spark fron the coil wire. Brand new coil and condenser. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[rocketraider]

Only thing I can think of is maybe this is a positive ground car?

[John]

Have you replaced or cleaned the points? Put a meter on the wire from the coil to the distributor---with the engine cranking it should bounce between 6v and 0 volt. If a constant 6v reading your points are not making contact to complete the circuit.

John