coil fire??

sorry about my ramblin.
i stated i beleive current runnin thru car ( key on), new coil, comdensor, ballast, coil, i relize any could be bad through new. just sent to town and got another New coil. No resistor, . i'll save my $ and get tack-dwell tester and multimeter,
installed new coil, hit remote ( keu on), got intermittant spark at test light at neg coil wire, slight spark out big coil wire, noth it plug wire. THEN---- nothin at neg coil wire, power to ballast gone later comes back , heat at back of ballast. jumper from bat to pos coil gives nothin at eng coil.
Questions: do i have a short somewhere? did i fry the coil just that quick? is the resistor necessary?? remember, i said the fusible link was burned into when i got it
my neighbor the shade tree mecanic has these testers and wants $40/ hr. $40 will have to buy livestock feed and hotdogs for me the next 2 weeks!?? LOL no really. i will be lookin for bargain on some used testers!!! i no i need them. thanks again for any input.