bad coil- how much SHOULD they spark?

[clydesdale]

I have had the car down for one month and I did a compression test right before it went down and had the coil wire off. I am pretty sure the coil pumped out sparks at a rapid fire pace. While changing the timing belt and othe odds and ends there was a period of light rain. The coil did get a little wet and now it pumps out sparks here and there. My brother dropped a coil in from his old mustang and it also fired rapidly.
Is my coil shot? The damn car won't start after the timing belt change and I have rechecked eveything I took off.
Dead coil?

[jlevie]

Mind telling us what car you have?

A bad coil is a possibility, but equally likely is a bad CPS and/or a problem with the DME or it's power or ground.

[clydesdale]

Sorry, 87 325is with stock m20. With the wire off of the coil, you can hardly see the coil arc. Where as, before during the compression check last month, the coil was arcing like crazy. When we swapped the 65 mustang coil in, it arced liked crazy as well.
The crank position sensor did seem original and the wire not flexible. I cleaned off the oil on it and was real careful with it. It wasn't like it was pouring rain in the car. But, my brother feels the coil is certainly making less spark than it did when we were doing the compression check.

[jlevie]

First re-verify that the cam timing is correct. Then verify that the ignition wires are correct and check for spark at a plug while cranking the engine. If the spark is really weak then, try a different coil.

[clydesdale]

The cam timing is lined up with the line on the sprocket and line on the block. The o/t line on the crank pulley is lined up with the line on the cover.
I will check to see if there is spark at the plugs. But, I ordered a coil anyway because the coil spark was so weak and my brother thought it was much better during the compression check. Also, his mustang coil fired like crazy in my car and my oem coil barely sparks.