Well, after doing research, I find that I should never fire the coils without being connected to a grounded spark plug...  because the spark has to go somewhere

That was my first thought; but still “I took all the wires off entirely, and sparks were flying out of the socket and arcing across several inches to reach the control harness for the coil. That is amazing!  When I pull a wire off a plug, and spin the engine with the starter; the spark only jumps about ½” gap, or less, to the plug, or the block.  It seems weak to me, but I figured maybe because the starter is pulling the voltage down. Is there something wrong with my coils?  Engine runs fine.

Maybe I should try the mode 8 thing, although I’m not sure my EC2 has that feature.

Al