1981 GMC half ton quit running

[tinkering]

1981 GMC 1/2 Ton, 250 CID straight six, just up and quit. It doesn't appear to be fuel; we dumped a smidge of gas down the carb; no fire at all. Is it right to check for spark by pulling a plug wire and putting a screwdriver into the boot, holding it near the block. That's how we did it in the olden days but I have heard that you shouldn't do that nowadays for fear of blowing the ignition module or computer stuff??? What's the best way to check for spark? We used to use a 12V test light to check for power to the points etc.. I sound really old eh?

I suspect the module. Here is the scenario: Someone installed a new distributor cap but didn't get the coil screwed down to the cap properly; it was sticking up which caused the carbon/spring center contact not to stick through the cap far enough to mate with the rotor contact tang. It must have been causing the spark to jump that big gap. It ran for quite a while that way. Could that have eventually cooked the module??? or the coil?? Am I off my noodle here?

This one is solved. Someone failed to put the little ground wire back on the coil terminal in the distributor cap electrical connector. It ran that way for awhile.