I too am putting my money on the coil being hooked up to the factory resistor wire. If the original starter "r" wire was connected, you'd be getting 12 volts (or close) at the coil when trying to start. Starting with only 9-ish volts to the coil from the resistor wire, can leave you with the low voltage you're getting due to the added amp draw of the starter.
What's strange is that the present ignition used to work this way, now it doesn't. It's possible the ignition module inside the distributor got trashed, which would cause low (or no) spark.

 

Huh?

You did not take anything away, your repsonse was dead on.

Question to Chris, when you got 5v at the coil, were you cranking the motor or just had the key on?

If he was cranking it are you guys thinking it could be a bad control module in the dizzy?

 

While cranking:
The ignition module wouldn't affect voltage supply input at the + terminal of the coil. That would be due to a drop in (most likely resistance) voltage that's being supplied to the coil (mentioned in my previous post).

 

I guess I really wasn't clear, but what I was getting at is basically, like you already said, a bad module would not affect voltage at the coil, but a bad module would affect the votage going to the coil because of the drain it puts on the battery after spinning the motor over and over.

So what I meant was, if the module was bad, and he was cranking it over, then there is a good chance the voltage was down at the coil and I think Everett mentioned to make sure his battery was good and charged for when he tries to work on this again.

But all in all, I think we're on the same page.

 

Might be on the same page, but are we in the same book?
A bad module would affect spark, not the power at the + on the coil. The + terminal is connected to the power supply from the car's electrical source (battery). The - side of the coil is what sends a signal through the distributor.

 

Yeap module affects spark, drained battery affects coil.

Now what page of the Mustang manual is this on again????

 

Mustang? I was reading the Brain Surgery for Dummies book. It's part of my fall-back plan. lol

 

Hey guys- first off, thanks so much for the replies and great advice! This is a HUGE help for me.

I guess it could be a bad battery but, it's less than 1 year old and has been on a battery tender since day one. As soon as I pull into the garage, i always connect the tender.

To answer the question on my coil voltage test- I get a full 12 volts on both sides of the coil when the key is sitting in the run position. As soon as the key is turned to start position, I'm only getting 5 volts. I'm definitely a novice in the ignition arena however, the advice on this post and the results of my tests are making me think its the ignition wire at the coil too.

i believe my next step is to remove the wires from the pos side of the coil and run. Jumper direct from the pos side of the battery to pos side of the coil. If it starts fine, it sounds like we proved my issue is the stock ignition resistor wire?

Assuming that happens, do I disconnect the current pink wire from pos side of the coil and replace it with a wire straight from the R terminal of my starter to the pos side of the coil or, does the new wire go from the IGN spade on the fuse block to the pos side of the coil?

Thanks again guys!

 

Then you don't have a resistor wire feeding the coil, otherwise you would get a reading between 9-10 volts in the run position.
Your test points even stronger to it being your ignition switch, as was suggested earlier.

 

Sorry for the confusion- I didn't try that test with a jumper yet... That was my next step So it sounds like I can officially rule out the resistor wire issue because I get 12 v at the coil pos terminal at run and it drops when cranking?

If it does start fine with the jumper, is there a way to test the ign switch?