1964 Evinrude 90HP battery start won't spark

Ok, I've been working at this for 2 weeks and have accomplished nothing. So far I have replaced the coil(twice) and condenser and have cleaned and regaped the points. Both new parts are purchased from Autozone for a 12volt external resistor system.

The coil will spark to ground when the points open but doesn't seem to want to jump to the distributor cap. The coil is only reading 7volts when the points are closed. When the points are open or the positive lead is disconnected, the lead shows 12 volts. I show a 5volt difference from the positive lead of the battery to the positive lead of the coil with the ignition on and the coil lead installed, and the ground lead of the coil is at 0volts as it should be.

It seems like there is too much resistance in the circuit, but I tried putting a new wire from the ignition to the coil(A non-resistor wire on a coil pulled from a junkyard Volvo) and it still reads only 7volts.

The previous owner put new wiring throughout the engine itself but did not replace anything in the harness, at this point it seems like he may have screwed something up trying to fix what was a broken solenoid.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Re: 1964 Evinrude 90HP battery start won't spark

I just had my 64 90hp do the same thing. It was running great and then began to cut in and out. I have been told there are different safety items inside the motor. Something about "monkeyballs" two brown round switches inside the system that are possibly the problem. I am going to bypass the the system and use a lead from the battery to the coil and see if I can get some spark. Let me know if you find anything out. Back to work.