Turn key to "On" - Have power and fuel pump. Turn more to start: Lose all electrical

[rennch]

No idea what's going on here.

As I said...if I turn the key to the on position, I get dash lights and fuel pump. If I continue to turn, all electrical shuts down.

I've been messing with my Pertronix today, including splicing the red wire inside the distributor. I've also un-taped all of my wiring in the engine compartment, so the possibility of something becoming unplugged or pulling out a bit exists. I have checked and moved every wire in the engine compartment, every fuse, my battery....I'm stumped.

I'm turning the key and getting nothing now. NO idea.

Help?

[racerboyrt]

This happened to a friends car. Somehow the starter burned up, replaced starter and car fired right up. Not sure that's your issue but it was his.

[Tippy]

Fun! You get to trace the circuit all the way to the starter.

[afterburn 549]

KISS
Clean all terminals, grounds B4 getting to far out !

[rennch]

it's really strange. I can turn the key on...and nothing. Then fiddle around with wires in the engine compartment, and I'll get power. At this point, I've got the motor in a partial drop, I've unplugged and plugged every wire, and I can't seem to identify the culprit. It's maddening.

[timmy2]

Has your partial drop strained the ground cable to the body at the transmission?
Maybe it has "opened " the connection or the cable at some point. Or another connector or cable in the engine bay?

[afterburn 549]

whats your voltage drop to starter ?
Whats your "cranking " voltage?

[timmy2]

Looked at your build thread, very nice. How did you wire in the 3.0 engine harness to the '69 wiring?
Did you build an adapter for the 14 pin connector or split it out to the existing system?
Your red and yellow wires in the 14 pin connector (if it still exists) are power and start signal.

[Joe Bob]

Check terminals connections. Classic corrosion or loose terminal symptoms.

Meter the battery. likely voltage as well.

[rennch]

I'm so frustrated I want to take a torch to it. I don't have a working multimeter and I truly don't know how to use it.

[afterburn 549]

takes just a plain old volt meter to measure drop..pretty simple sorry for you problems
Call it a night, tomorrow will be brand new

[Joe Bob]

Coming down this weekend to SD....call me. I can help....send me a PM with your number.

[racerboyrt]

If you're a risk taker you can see if it'll pop start. My friends with that problem would pop start.

[Justin@Athens]

This may be a dumb idea, but have you considered the ignition switch itself?

[T77911S]

sounds like a bad battery or bad battery connections. clean both battery connections and clean the grounds from the battery to the body. do the same with the ground strap on the tranny.
have the battery tested.

[rennch]

It can't be...it switches intermittently between full power and zero power. Joe Bob had a good suggestion that it might be a broken ground somewhere. I'm going to install my new ignitor and keep troubleshooting from there.

The battery is brand new, btw.

[T77911S]

bad connection. clean them, pos and neg.

[rennch]

It's not a bad connection at the battery. But I'm guessing it's a bad connection somewhere in the engine compartment, exacerbated by my untaping the wiring loom. I've just gotta find the bugger.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by emptyo

I'm so frustrated I want to take a torch to it. I don't have a working multimeter and I truly don't know how to use it.

$10 and 10 minutes

[Tremelune]

Originally Posted by emptyo

I don't have a working multimeter and I truly don't know how to use it.

This is where you start (though a simple test lamp will probably work in your case).

You mainly just need to know where 12v should be when trying to start the car, and where it should be coming from. Somewhere in there is a break in the chain...The tricky bit is knowing where to test.