The igniter sits on top of the coil. I upgraded my '77 ignition that had points to a '78 set up. The only issue I have ever had was my coil went bad. It's also important for the igniter to be grounded properly. It sounds like your rig was taken apart at some point, I would pull the coil and igniter and make sure you have clean grounds and that none of your wires are frayed. If you aren't getting any spark, it could be a bad Igniter, or a bad coil, or a bad pickup in the distributor. Test each one to see which one is actually bad. There are no serviceable parts in the igniter but the coil can be replaced.