No Spark

Let's also stop discounting others' actual life experiences.
It's not too hard to reserve judgement until there's investigation, or is it?
Ok, I see now.
Your coil is an alien too. :D

Seriously though, having a coil that wont work unless the case is grounded is not a case of pre proof judgment, but a case of a coil that does something that no coil of it's type is designed or expected to do.
The statement I made in the beginning still stands and is valid.
Canister coils do not need to be grounded at the case to function, and this is misinformation to a person who is learning how things work on their car.
Just because Mt St Helens happened to blow the side out in a certain direction doesn't mean that we quit building houses near volcanoes only in that direction.
It was an unpredictable fluke and not the norm.
Your personal experience with that problem is an unpredictable fluke and not the norm.

That's all it was ever about.

Looks like that rotor contact got pushed off to the side on a previous cap installation and is running around the outside of the tower for the carbon button.
And an FYI that nasty rotor can be popped of with two screwdrivers, cleaned up and put back on.
Just watch for the roll pin between it and the shaft and note or mark if you need to how it goes back on or you'll end up with big block rotor phasing and it won't run right for sure. :D