No spark - I think?

[Dmulder]

I parked my 76 mini several years ago for family and financial reasons. My middle son (Cooper) turned 16 this year and it is to be his car. We pulled it out made sure it was getting fuel and turned it over and over and over. I pulled plug wires to check for spark and I don't see any spark at all on any plugs.
Is there another way to check?  Is there an easy place to start?

[94touring]

Do you have a points distributor or electric module?  If it was sparking when parked it should spark now.  Did a wire get pulled loose?  Circuit breakers making contact after sitting/corrosion build-up?

[Dmulder]

It has a distributor cap. Would this be points?  My older son has a triumph spitfire and decided to replace the wiring loom. It has been overwhelming and I'm about ready to give up on these British cars.

[94touring]

The guts to the dizzy are either points or electronic. If points, take a peak for corrosion. Look at the cap for that matter too and the arm. All the stuff.

[Dmulder]

How do I share a picture from my phone?

[94touring]

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[Dmulder]

[MiniDave]

Whenever I'm presented with a challenge like this, I start with a voltmeter, to see if I'm getting 12V at the coil, if there's no power there, there will be no spark. If there's power there then I go to the next thing in line, which is the points (you do have points) and when the lobe on the distributer shaft opens the points there should be about 16 thou gap.  Like Dan says, make sure the contacts are  clean, even take a nail file or piece of sandpaper and clean that contact surface, then gap them correctly (loosen the adjustment screw and open them to 16 thou and retighten the set screw.

Once that's done you should have fire at the plugs......put the cap back on (don't forget to put the rotor back in if you took it out) and I test this by inserting a phillips screwdriver in the end of the plug wire that clips onto the plug and hold the shaft very close to one of the cylinder head studs and look for a spark as the engine is cranked over.

A new set of points and a condenser (the round bit on the side of the distributor) are always a good idea, make sure there's a very light coating of grease on the lobes that contact the points.