Hei conversion Intermittent start?

Your ohm test is inconclusive. The coil will show continuity to ground because of the other circuitry, UNLESS you made this test with the coil wiring disconnected.

You might suspect a break internally in the distributor wiring (connectors.) Unhook the dist. from the HEI module so that you have ALL the dist. wiring from the HEI to the dist. Now check resistance across the pickup coil, and wiggle the dist connector to see if it's erratic. I don't remember the exact figure, 200-400? ohms. Also check each connection to the dist. ground. Should be "open" or infinity. Don't forget that contact with your fingers can display false readings

9V in crank is pretty low. You may have a voltage drop problem in the harness. Easy way to check that is to put one meter probe on the coil POS, the other probe on battery PLUS, and crank the engine. If you have more than about .5V reading, you have a harness problem, and a bad connection in the bulkhead connector is no1 on the list.

It SOUNDS like you have it wired correctly. I would hook a clip lead to the coil + terminal to be sure you have voltage to the coil/ HEI, and crank the engine, test for spark.

If none, put your meter on low AC volts and hook to the distributor connector after unhooking the two connectors. The dist should generate about 1V AC when cranked.

On a properly working system, it should not take much movement of the distributor to generate a spark. With everything hooked up, dist. cap off, wrench the engine around until the dist is in such a position that you can "spring" the rotor against the mechanical advance and cause the reluctor wheel to cross the center of the pickup coil. Then with key in "run" you should be able to "spring" the rotor back/ forth against the advance springs and cause sparks.

You don't have any used parts in your junk box, spare coil, extra distributor, etc?