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I purchased 1974 Corvette Stingray a month ago and drove it an hour to home. Next day, I tried to turn on the engine and it stalled and made a lot of clicking noises. We did think it is a starter issue. We did test the battery and alternator, they both are good. I looked around at the engine today and discovered an unplugged/cut orange wire (I looked it up on here forum and it said it is key ignition switch wire). I looked at the engine and could not find where the wire is supposed to be hooked up, so anyone know where it is supposed be hooked up?
My step dad and I, before finding the orange wire, we did charge the battery and the car did finally start and ran until I turned it off and turned it on, it wouldn't start. I tested the battery and and charged it overnight. I don't believe the battery is an issue.
It appears your car has the washer pump with the opposing bullet connectors. I think this is your loose wire; the yellow color may be aged to an orange-y tint.
Hi Kalena from Nextdoor
I told ya you will get help here !
these folks are the best.
Congratulations on your car! Everything is repairable with tools and time on these cars.. (ok and little $)
great lead on the wire above.
I suggest you also inspect VERY closely the ground cable from battery to the frame. Look for corrosion under insulation etc.. a common failure point... Inspect all wires to starter etc.. (ALWAYS disconnect the ground from battery when poking around as these cars have fusible links)
i would advise as well some pics of your ride to share ... this forum LOVES pictures..and often people spot issues you may not be aware of.. take some pics around engine so those helping can help even more..
it is also advisable to get the service manual and or build manual.
here is a parts illustration for free as another tool.(see post 8) https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ette-lonk.html
others with a 74 may also help your specific questions.. i only know 79 but much is similiar..
it ran once..it will run again.. congrats on your new unique car..
if its a 74, it was a point distributor car... A common mistake made when people convert to the HEI is to use the resistor wire (from the old points distributor) to power the HEI. It will work for a while but eventually cause issues due to the resistor built into the wire limiting voltage and current.
Ideally you would want a 12awg wire running from the IGN fuse box spade connector to the BAT location on the distributor to remedy this. At this point you may have to replace the module in the distributor, I'm not sure but I believe these have a tendency to over heat and fail when powered from the resistor wire. When the ign module failes, the car usually continues running fine until its turned off and an attempt to restart is made.
Hello neighbor! Yes, I am glad to have found this place, thanks to you! I will pass this message to my mechanic. Great advice, I will do that and post pictures on my new thread.
There are some great responses here already. My 2c… I recently had a similar problem with my ‘74. I put a battery in that was charged and checked good. Nothing but clicking. I thought it was several things- all told it was the battery. I went and bought a new one and she instantly came back to life.
If the battery tests ok- I had this very issue where sometimes the car would turn over, sometimes it would just click. my uncle also had it on his 76 c3... in my case the wires that go into the battery terminal connection had turned green and were corroded so the made a very poor wiring connection. my uncles car would start fine when cold but then just be dead or click when he tried to restart the car once it was hot. after he replaced the battery and the starter he finally found it was a corroded/poor ground connection at the opposite end of the negative battery terminal.
I did also have an ignition switch fail on my column but thats fairly rare.
I will pass this message to my mechanic. Great advice, I will do that and post pictures on my new thread. 
1974 Corvette engine won't start
