Hi Ed.
I did this:
"Then with the ignition still ON you have taken an earth wire (-) from the battery to the other side of the coil, with a HT lead direcly from the coil to the sparkplug, when you touched this against the coil there was NO spark?"
However I did not connect a spark plug as I did not think it was necessary, I can get a spark at this poing when I turn the ignition on then off (regardless of weather I switch the key further to activate the starter motor).
I have also bypassed the electronic ignition.
Could the fault be the condensor in the distributor?
Thanks