Hello! I've determined the polarity of the car, discovered a short in the voltage regulator, now I'm inching closer to get the car started.

1967 340. Auto. Converted to negative earth at some point and had been sitting for 25 years.

I'm now troubleshooting the ignition system as I have no spark. I've already confirmed power to both side of the coil I want to verify the assembly for the internals of the distributor as I don't know how they are assembled, and certainly don't want to assume the person before me did it right. Ive scoured the forums here, looked at the factory manual, and tried searching Google for Lucas distributor assembly diagrams, no luck. So I ask for your expertise.

So when I remove the distributor cap and remove the rotor, I notice 2 wires fastened to the points chassis and a nylon insulator that looks like a top hat. Where is the nylon insulator positioned relative to the two wires?
As I found, it was : fastening nut, condenser wire, internal wire, nylon top hat insulator, spring for points, another flat washer insulator, and finally the chassis plate. Does this sound correct? Thanks again for any insight. This forum rocks!

 

Have a look at this site as it not only describe how the distributor works and its assembly but has pictures so you can see how it goes together..
https://www.howacarworks.com/ignitio...breaker-points

 

I think it's backwards. The condensor and the power wire should be together, but with the points open check for continuity between the power wire and the distributor body. It should be an open circuit. I think the sequence from top to bottom is: Nut,, flat washer insulator, two wires, points spring, insulator, body.

The logic is power comes in and contacts the spring for the points, such that there is only a ground path between the spring and the distributor body when the points are closed.

 

I did find a video, but the quality isn't that great _ go to about the 2:10 mark.

 

This was spot on. To confirm, correct orientation is: nut, steel washer, nylon insulator, two wires (condenser and lead from coil) spring for points breaker) and finally flat insulating washer.

This fixed the spark issue. Glad i didn't assume the guy before me knew what he was doing.

Thanks again for all help everyone. Great advise!

 

Excellent news! So if you have it wired for negative ground, then the negative side of the coil should go to the distributor.