Frankentractor update

My wife and I pulled the ignition coil, and found the relevant parts in the engine's manual on how to test it.

The test procedure goes something like this: check the resistance between the positive and negative terminals, then check the resistance between the spark plug terminals. They should be in the ranges [2.90,3.60]Ω and [14,500,19,800] Ω, respectively.  The resistance at the pos/neg terminals was right at 3.6, but at the spark plug terminals, I couldn't get a reading at all.  So now the hunt is on for an ignition coil.  I'd prefer to buy from a local shop, ideally a new one, but there seems to be a thriving market on e-bay in the worst case scenario.

Once we've got that swapped, I will be able to test the timing. This one's a bit more difficult:

1) Remove spark plugs.
2) Turn ignition on.
3) Connect volt meter to negative terminal on coil and to engine ground.
4) Rotate the flywheel clockwise until voltage jumps from 1V to 12V (battery voltage, actually).

At this stage, one of the screws on the flywheel's chaff screen (the perforated metal plate that protects the air intake from large crud getting blown in by the fan which is cast onto the flywheel's surface), should lie between the timing marks on the blower housing.  These are located at approximately the 10:00 location, and thankfully are stamped in rather than painted or drawn on (unlike the !@#$!@$ serial number).

UPDATE 2014-01-28: Forgot to mention last time - here's what's written on the side of the old one:

166-0781
029700-6461
12V
DENSO
MADE IN JAPAN

From what I can tell, the part is discontinued, and the only new replacement available is part 541-0522.  Amazon has it here.

UPDATE : I forgot to come back and mention this - we ordered a replacement from John Deere, and that did not help.  Looks like I need to pull the engine to fix the timing :-/