Arcing Coil

[70challengersix]

Almost there, but now a new problem.  As I took my car up the street yesterday, it began sputtering real bad and finally quit.  After a few minutes, it started, but just ran enough to make it up the driveway and then quit again.  Once rolled into the garage, and with the aircleaner cover off and with the car running (Rather poorly), I noticed some arcing occurring from the coil wire to one of its terminals.  All the wires leading to the distributor/ballast resistor/tach were nice and tight.  I tried to shove the distriburor/coil wire on as tight as I could and although the arcing was reduced, it was still there. 

For some that have followed my other posts, I have the pertronics unit inside the distributor and its being fed 12 volts (from the high side of the ballast resistor).  The coil is connected to the ballast resistor.  I cannot see anything wrong with the connections and the coil is new. 

What could be causing this?  Is my coil toast? I am thinking of getting one of those pertronics flamethrower coils, and I think on those, the ballast resistor is bypassed and the coil gets the full 12 volts (points/condensor) has been reoved). 

Is this the right direction to head?  I dont see any "cracks" on my current coil.

Thanks

[ShelbyDogg]

I noticed some arcing occurring from the coil wire to one of its terminals. 

The spark is going to jump across the path with the least resistance. You could have a bad coil. Try another one. I've tested good coils with the center plug wire pulled off of the dist cap and held 1/2" from the valve cover. I get a good blue crackling spark without any arcing between the center tower and the terminals. Are you using a good set of wires?

[Chryco Psycho]

My first thought is are the wires OK , if the coil to dist wire is bad then the spark is finding an easier way to ground