electrical frustration no more
 

after searching all over and pulling the dash numerous times i finally found the short on my 71 BB. the pos. cable from battery to starter had grounded itself to the exhaust manifold. thanks to all with their suggestions, especially LT1... i think i fried the battery in the process cuz it won't jump start but thats ok...i'll be back on the road soon... :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

that's a good feeling finally killing those elec grimlens :smash:

Hey, thats LS1. Just kidding. Glad you found the problem.

frustrations
 

sorry LS1, hey i was only one letter off... now what are the chances i cooked the solenoid...all i get is clickin when i tried to jump it,,,how do i check it

If your battery cable was still touching the manifold when you tried to jump it, then you were not seeing enough voltage at the starter to get it to turn over hence the clicking. You had a dirrect path from the jumper battery to ground causing a very high current and melting your jumper cable.

You shouldn't have affected the solenoid, your ground was outside the starter and wouldn't cause a high current through the solenoid.

Make sure you have a good battery and that the cable is not touching the manifold then try again. My guess is the starter is fine, but you probably fried the battery.

frustrations
 

i put a new battery in it and it started right up...now on to setting dwell, carb and timing....never ends but it sure is fun...