Is my HEI coil toast?

[akram]

So you have 12V going in right? If so check spark. If you have or can get a spark tester. If not you can pull a plug ground the electrode to metal and have the girlfriend crank the motor. You will see the spark. If no spark there is a chance the coil is bad. also keep in mind you need 12V. So if the fuel pump is pulling also you not be actually getting 12V. You may need a secondary ignition hook up.

A couple tests you can do.
1st test- primary resistance, tach to bat terminals. Above 0 but less than 1 ohm.

Connect an ohmmeter to each terminal of the pick-up coil connector or wire and ground (one terminal at a time). The ohmmeter should indicate infinite resistance. If it doesn't, the pick-up coil is defective.

Hope this helps. Also some parts stores used to test these for free not sure if they still do or not.