This is what it should do. Now put the condensers back, one at a time, to see which one is bad. One of them is shorted to ground causing your heating.
Years ago we had forklifts that ran on propane and had point ignition. The operators would run out of fuel and forget to shut off the ignition while they changed tanks. The points would burn and the engine would run rough. One guy would change points and never get it running. We'd always tell him "It worked good before you fixed it". He was the one that connected the ground wire to the points. He would gap the points without putting them on the cam lobe, get the condenser lead twisted and grounded, break the insulator forget to install the rotor etc. When it wouldn't start he would change coils and ignition switches. If he did get it running he would time it by ear, then it would run hot so he'd change thermostat, water pump and radiator. When it still ran hot he'd pull the head to check the gasket. When it still got hot he'd say it had a cracked block. That "ran when we parked it" reminds me of junkyard engines that "ran great before we took it out".
with 12 volts hooked to coil you should be able to open and close the points manually and see it arc. make sure you have replaced the condenser(s) and it should fire. one thing about condensers is they are usually 21 microfarads they just mount different, mix and match is fine.
Thats a good sign. One of the condensers is grounding out. Replace the one in the distributor with a new one. Leave the one on the coil disconnected for now. It should start.
The starter won't care which polarity the battery is hooked up with it will still turn in the same direction. It makes a difference with the coil, the alternator and the gauges and radio along with any motor that uses a reversing switch like seats or windows although on those the action of the switch may be reversed.
im bout to head out to the garage and try all these tips, no kidding guys, thank you all for the help! ill let u know what happens or hopefully what progressive made. much appreciated!!!!
i swapped out the condensor with the old one (points condensor), removed one of the 2 wires coming from firwall going to the ballast resistor; and left the "radio noise suppressor" mounted on the coil hold-down bracket unhooked, checked for spark at points like "j-bondo" said and verified that nothing was grounding itself out like "eng-man" was talkin about with those forklifts and lo&behold spark at points, put cap on, pulled a plug to check for spark there and it tried to run with a plug out : ) so between all you guy's ideas , they worked...... thanks a million !!!! you guys are kick-***! current status- the carb is rough, but it'll run on carb cleaner and try hard to run if u pump the hell outta the pedal, as of now the starter isnt "kicking out" the gear and has ****ed upits teeth because of that, so now im hunting a carb rebuild kit for that old Carter, and a starter hahahaha.
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