'94 325i no start, no spark condition

I have a 1994 325i whach has a no spark situation, so it will not start. I bought it with a manual trans that had been ran out of oil, so it needed a transmission. When I got it, it ran perfect, & you could still drive it, but the tranny made very bad noises. I ordered a tranny, & about 3 weeks later, I went to start the car to pull it inside to do the tranny swap. It ran when I parked it, but now it will not start. It has plenty of battery voltage, & turns over great. Any suggestions? How much voltage is supposed to be at the coils? From what I've tested, that's all I can think that it might be, but I'm not a bmw expert, so I could be totally wrong. I'm guessing there's supposed to be around 12 volts at each coil, but there is not. There is about 8 volts at each coil. Is that likely to be my problem, & if so, what part is the likely culprit that is causing this low voltage problem? Any suggestions would really be appreciated, as my next move, if I can't figure it out, is to bring it to someone else to figure it out. Thanks, Brett.

not sure of this will help, but......
had a VW rabbit, and had to change out the clutch, would'nt start after that, no voltage to the distributer, turns out that when i bolted the transmission back to the engine block, i pinched the wire going to the distributer, causing a short to ground situation, cut and spliced the wire, and she ran just fine after that, so it may be possable you've got a wiring issue?
hth
Rick, Ore