The shop manual says I should see at least 8.5 V at the battery terminal of the coil and at most 0.1 V drop from the distributor terminal of the coil to ground. I am getting 6.5 V and 0.16 V, respectively.
As per the manual's detailed instructions, I checked out all of the wiring, found some issues, and tried to deal with them. It says that the voltage drop to the battery terminal of the ignition resistor should be no more than 0.2 V; the best I could get it was 0.25 V. Even so, with 12 V coming into the resistor, there are just 6.5V coming out of the resistor, yet the resistor shows the correct 1.4 ohms specified when tested. If I'm losing all my voltage at the resistor, yet it is of the correct resistance, what gives?
As for the ground side, about half of the voltage drop occurs between the terminal on the points assembly and the moving breaker arm itself (which is to say, NOT through the contact points themselves) and the other half is through the wire that goes to the distributor terminal of the coil. I cut several inches of length out of the wire and spliced it back together in an effort to reduce the voltage drop, but it didn't help much. I tried another wire as well, but even though they show no resistance when tested, they consistently cause a voltage drop.
Any thoughts on how to get the system in spec, or whether it's worth it?
1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive