Well I use an old common analog meter, set to 1000K. Touch both red and white wires together and see if the needle goes up. Now you have continuity. With coil uninstalled, touch black lead to ground wire, red one to pos wire, check for needle to go all the way up. Then with black lead touching the same ground wire, touch the red lead to the end of your plug wire electrode or if no wire, the spike inside where the wire goes, and look for the needle to go up, indicating continuity. If If one or both tests do not activate the needle, the coil is no good.
You can check it installed in the mag plate, just make sure the pos wire is unhooked from the screw. Your prollem might be that your pos wire is still hooked up to the points.
Learned this off of "Leeroys Ramblings", a good source and easy to find on the internet.
Good luck!
.
