I am tryng to bench start my 6 with carbs. I have fuel but no sparks.
I check the points and they are opening and closing. All grounds are connected. Positive is applied the positive side of the coil. The only thing I am not sure how to chck is the cd box. As far as I can tell the c box is powered from the positive side of the coil.

help!

3 pin

A = + or 15, coil hot primary terminal ( - or 1, coil ground primary terminal is connected to the engine ground).
B = Power from ignition switch.
C = Distributor breaker points.
D = Ground

Click to view attachment

If you put a condenser inline, you can remove the CD box for testing purposes if you question it's functionality.

Here is what I did.

I hot wire the coil by grounding it and 12 Volts at the positive of the coil.

I have fuel but no spark.
I tested the points, they are opeming and closing.
I check the cd box, pin a has 12 bolts, b is dead and c has ground.
I applied 12 volts directly to b, still no spark.

How do you test a cd box?

Plug it in. If you hear a high pitch whine, it's probably working. If you can't hear a high pitched whine, ask your son if he hears it. If not, probably not working.

You can't test the CD box without any special test equipment

If you don't hear a whistle from the CD box the box is not connected correct or
is defect.

No noise , what is the correct way to connect it? I am not sure it is connected right

based on what you say above, you have the wiring all wrong

(& where is this no-spark condition evident? - at the end of the coil wire or at the end of the plug wire, or both?

Study very carefully the diagram above from SLITS ,

get out your 911 repair manual that has the wiring diagrams in it, and follow those diagrams (you do have one, eh?)

you should not be hooking up 12v directly to the coil

(do not ever leave 12v hooked continuous on the coil when it is grounded - it WILL overheat and blow up) (then all that fuel you see will create some excitement)

'b' should not be dead if you have hooked 12v to it as if you pretend you had a ign switch there
(- better yet - DO put in a switch so you can control the thing easily)

'c' should only be grounded if connected to the points lead and if the points are closed - prop them open & check it again - Make sure the CDI ground is attacjhed to engine ground is attached to the battery ground - you say above that 'c' is grounded - but later not ????

- if still grounded, or grounded when not connected, you either have the wire from 'c' to points shorted to ground somewhere or likely the CDI is shorted internally

.

OR - just pretend you don't have a CDI at all

- pretend you have a simple old fashioned ignition like your old VW Bug has:

1. hook 12v to Coil (+) via a switch,
2. hook the Coil (-) to the Dist Points lead and hook in a condenser at that junction as advised above, being sure the condenser is also grounded
3. Make sure the engine ground is attached to the battery ground
4. Switch on the 12v to Coil, and trigger the solenoid to crank it

(well - you don't really have to crank it to test for spark - all you have to do is momentarily open/close the points, or disconnect the points and very momentarily ground the lead from 'c' to simulate the points open/close event

5. if still no spark - you likely have a short in your distributor, such as mis-installed points, et al, - - or your coil has gotten cooked already from that incorrect wiring

.

Thanks, ground was not connected on Cdi box started right up

now that is a happy ending