No spark from coil-Small block Chevy

Strange thing happened. Car was running, got in and shut my door-car died immediately. Got out and checked all the obvious and realized I was not getting any spark from the coil. Have power to the positive side. It was easy enough to swap out another coil, (which I did) but that would be too easy and rarely happens with these projects, so I'm kinda stuck. Could it be a bad ground? Also, a friend told me to check the points 'cause the distributor sends the power to the coil which sends it back via the coil wire to the rotor-I thought it was the other way around. I really think the door shutting had something to do with it, which would indicate some loose/broken wire, but since I have power to the + side, I'm still scratching my head. Any suggestions? ('62 Impala w/283 & 4-speed).

 

Put a test light on the negative side of the coil, and ground the other end of the light.

Crank the car over, and the test light should blink on and off.

If it does not, either points or condenser is bad or check the wire that goes from negative coil terminal to the points.

Remote possiblity that the point plate has lost it's ground, but check the rest first.

 

Thanks F & J-I'll try that. It's been many years since I've had to trouble shoot "old school" motors and forgot some of the basics. Recently bought this '62 Impala, and am having a ball (along with some frustration).

 

While you've got the test light out, turn the ignition"on", put the test light on the positive coil terminal, and put the light where you can see it from the driver's door. then give the door a couple of slams. If the light flickers or goes out, you have problems further up (Bad terminal/wire on ignition swithch, bad switch, etc)