Very Strange Engine Trouble

jaguar said:

when you say your coil was broken you don't say if it was the high voltage coil or the stator coil.
not allowing the spark a return path via the frame of course would prevent its occurrence and does not indicate anything is wrong

Click to expand...

It was the stator coil, the one inside the engine.

I once had an engine that was poorly painted such that the washers under the head bolts had paint on them & that left me with a head that wasn't grounded - you might check that, but I'm thinking a bad spark plug boot is more likely to be the problem