ok I've got spark coming out of the coil wire to the dist cap. no spark coming out of the plug wires. the cap and rotor are only about a month old. No apparent arcing marks inside the cap. I'm only thinking it could be a problem of spark in the cap. anything else I'm missing?

 

Aftermarket rotor? Try this remove the dist cap, hold the coil wire about 1/4" from the center of the rotor with insulated pliers, have someone crank the engine over. If the spark jumps to the center of the rotor ; the rotor is crap. If the spark tries to jump around the rotor the rotor is good.

 

rotor was good. the cap was causing the problem. I'm missing the little cover that goes inside. some arcing was going on. thanks for the tip on the rotor!!!