OK been running through all the fuses and checklist and have come to this. No power when checking the dizzy connector with the black/yellow wire and blue wire.

After exhausting many options I probed the black/yellow and simply touched the other probe to the chassis ground and now I measure voltage with key on.

So this is a bad ground right?

Where does this wire ground? can I just jump it to a known good ground to get it to start?

 

ok I'm dumb that was a bad theory. Must be a bad ecu at this point?

would the ecu from a 1993 civic si theoretically run in this car to test it? Si is manual dx is auto. That's all I have access to at the moment

Edit #2. For what it's worth, I swapped in the p28 from my manual Si and still nothing. Not sure if that means anything as I don't know if an operable car and this incorrect p28 would start in the first place (looks like manual to manual should at least start and run, but because of the dx being auto maybe it's funky)

Going down the list:
No Spark
Main fuses all good with power going to them
Main Relay clicks in all positions
When checking power going IN to the distributor probing the blue and the black/yellow wire I get no voltage with key ON
When checking power going In to the distributor probing black/yellow wire and then grounding the other probe, I get voltage.
Blue wire has continuity where it goes into the interior from the dizzy connector.
Ran out of steam at that point thinking it was ECU but don't know how to test.

 

The blue wire is NOT a ground... it is the tachometer signal output wire from the distributor to the instrument cluster !!! If you have probed the black/yellow wire (+) and placed the other probe from your volt meter on a chassis ground and you get 12v+... then you have power to the distributor. No spark would indicate a bad coil or ICM. My money is on the coil... test it.

 

you're a lifesaver. I way over complicated it and read the diagnostics wrong when going about testing the wiring. If I had taken my head out of my **** and simply removed the cap I would've seen the absolute carnage that is my distributor.

Turns out that parts which looked okay only a couple thousand miles, but over ten years ago can rust to hell... lol entire distributor is corroded, literally orange screw heads fell out of the distributor when I removed the cap.

note to everyone: keep it simple, and also keep up on routine maintenance....