We haven't (as far as i remember) tested it while cranking. Both of us are pretty unfamiliar with older motors, and the resto has been spread out, with many months in between...

I know we have full juice at the coil, and 12v (or so) droppping quickly to hold 9v the other side of the points.

I checked the coil before work and it says 1.5ohms and mentioned the ballast resistor on it.

Q, is the ballast resistor the thing on the side of the dizzy - it looks more like a capacitor?

When i googled BR this moring they dont look anything like this...

Q, Should we be able to get a single spark from the coil with an HT lead and plug directly into it (threads earthed obviously), upon first connecting it? I know without points it wont continually spark, but i'm sure from memory, and just thinking about it, it should spark the once. If 'Yes' it would rule out the BR, and anything to do with the dizzy (which is new, and cleaner than my dinner plates)...

Many thanks
Tom