383' shuts off' issues, I tried praying, no luck

no i'm not sure about fuel or ignition , just looking for ideas I may have over looked. Old points ignitions don't havea real hot(blue) cranking spark, and I hope today to get someone to start it and let run while I hold the coil wire off the distributor cap to see if it looses spark, that's the only way I know here by myself how to test that. thanx, Crossy