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Rod in NS has it right, but just to be clear: You need to check the voltage at the BATTERY side of the coil primary winding (to ground) with the POINTS CLOSED. How do you tell if the points are closed? Check the voltage at the DISTRIBUTOR side of the coil primary to ground. If it's zero the points are closed; if it's 12 volts the points are open. (This is with the engine stopped and the ignition switch on, of course.) Bump the starter, if necessary, to close the points. BTW, if the voltage at the distributor side of the coil is anything between a few millivolts and 12 volts your points are probably bad. Once you're sure the points are closed and not burned up, check the voltage from the battery side of the distributor to ground. I seem to recall that it should be around 7 or 8 volts if there's an external resistor. If you're getting full battery voltage then there's no external resistor. It's not uncommon to see 12 volt conversions with no external resistor and with a coil that requires a resistor. They will run fine, but go through points like crazy until the coil finally burns up.
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