66 mustang 289 no fire

My mustang leaked all its coolant, overheated and died. Since then I'm not getting any fire at the plugs. I've replaced ign coil, cap and rotor button, condensor and points and get spark at the points. Could the distributor be damaged from overheating?  

does the ROTOR and distributer shaft SPIN when you crank the engine....

how did you set the points...

when the points are closed, the primary windings in the ignition coil are connected to ground through the points.. and there is a magnetic field being created...

when the shaft turns and the points lever is lifted by the lobe.. the points open. this stops the flow of current through the coil primary.. this collapses the magnetic field through the secondary windings and creates a high voltage spark..


do you have a dwell meter???  with the vacuum advance disconnected.. setting the dwell to either 24 or 26 degrees of dwell..  its usually a situation where you have to pop the cap and rotor back on and start the engine with the vacuum advance disconnected to see if the dwell is correct..

the vacuum advance actually changes the dwell as it pulls the breaker plate sideways.


if you position the engine.. so the points are OPEN...

with the KEY on..  if you touch the open contacts with a screw driver tip..  when you pull away.. the coil should discharge...   you can position the coil wire about 3/8 of an inch from ground on the engine..

you can also position the engine with the points closed...   if you are careful not to ground the screwdriver.. you can pull the point arm back opening the points.. this will also make the coil discharge...

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a few more things... did you use some brake cleaner spray to clean the contact surface of the NEW points... most are coated with either a clear paint or some kind of coating to stop the points from looking bad after sitting for decades on the shelf..  the coating will prevent the electrons from flowing through when the points are closed..  


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waynep71222:
does the ROTOR and distributer shaft SPIN when you crank the engine....

how did you set the points...

when the points are closed, the primary windings in the ignition coil are connected to ground through the points.. and there is a magnetic field being created...

when the shaft turns and the points lever is lifted by the lobe.. the points open. this stops the flow of current through the coil primary.. this collapses the magnetic field through the secondary windings and creates a high voltage spark..


do you have a dwell meter???  with the vacuum advance disconnected.. setting the dwell to either 24 or 26 degrees of dwell..  its usually a situation where you have to pop the cap and rotor back on and start the engine with the vacuum advance disconnected to see if the dwell is correct..

the vacuum advance actually changes the dwell as it pulls the breaker plate sideways.


if you position the engine.. so the points are OPEN...

with the KEY on..  if you touch the open contacts with a screw driver tip..  when you pull away.. the coil should discharge...   you can position the coil wire about 3/8 of an inch from ground on the engine..

you can also position the engine with the points closed...   if you are careful not to ground the screwdriver.. you can pull the point arm back opening the points.. this will also make the coil discharge...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a few more things... did you use some brake cleaner spray to clean the contact surface of the NEW points... most are coated with either a clear paint or some kind of coating to stop the points from looking bad after sitting for decades on the shelf..  the coating will prevent the electrons from flowing through when the points are closed..  


~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the above info is absolutely right, and the only thing I can think to add is:  did you check the coil wire itself?   With all the new parts, and if the points are clean, and there is spark to the points, it has to get spark from the coil, unless some new part is defective.  And that is not unheard of.