Hey guys, working on a lil 85/84 project right now, reason it's an 85/84 is because I converted it to DSII... The problem I'm having now is that I can't seem to get power to the starter, even if I hot wire the solenoid/starter relay. The most I can get is this little silver box that I believe to be some sort of relay making a little clicking sound, (I checked its definitely not the starter making the click). The weird thing is that during my trouble shooting I removed all wires from the solenoid, that aren't going to either the starter or the battery. And yet this little box is still clicking... I'm at a complete loss for words, and have no idea how power is ending up over there instead of the starter... It's an 85 302, however I took all the steps to switch it from tfi to DSII so it has an 84 dizzy, 84 wiring harness, carb, and the only difference from my truck and the truck I got the harness from is that the donor had vacuum sensors, and hookups on the carb for an automatic choke and a throttle position sensor, which mine has neither, but I don't see how any of that could be a problem unless there's something I'm completely unaware of... Anyone have any input? I'm truly stumped...

 

You will have to take a picture of the silver box.

If you take a large jumper cable and jump the two large terminals on the solenoid, the starter still will not turn?

 

Nope, I cannot get the starter to turn...

 

Make sure your ground is good from the engine block to the battery. Take one side of your jumper cables and hook one end to the battery negative and the other to a good clean metal place on the engine. Then take your other side of the jumper cable and jump both large terminals on the solenoid.

Not sure what the silver relay box is for.

 

Does it have to be grounded to the engine? This is where I have it grounded currently... Look over the top right corner of the battery, that shiny piece is the end of the battery cable

 

From the factory, my truck has the ground connected to the frame [not radiator support] and starter motor base.


The top bolt for the alternator looks to be loose. There are other loose electrical connections seen.

 

Yeah it's not in all the way, I need one of my buddies to come out and help me line it up right, I can't get the hole in the back to line up with the hole in the bracket and hold it there while I tighten it down, as for the wires, I had those connected to the top post (starter post) and one with a rubber boot on it was connected to the s terminal, I took them off to make the only circuit the one to the starter, that's another thing, with all of those hooked up I can't get any power in the cab either... But I think I can figure that out, I just wanna get this starter spinning! Btw I'm not trying to actually get this thing to run yet if you're worried about the alternator, I'm taking baby steps lol

 

Hmm has anyone tried grounding to the radiator support? Wondering if that's my problem now...

 

Take a battery cable [like used for a boost] and attach one end to the negative battery post... attach the other end of that cable to the engine block and see what happens. You can do that without removing what you currently have.

 

I'll give it a shot, I should have another battery cable around here somewhere

 

Silver box looks like a horn relay. Best ground the battery to the engine. From the engine there should be other ground straps to the body.

 

The ground wire needs to be to the engine. The factory uses a stud sticking out of the front pass corner of the block down low.

The starter motor is the power hog. If you didn't have the starter motor, you would not need those large cables. So try and make it easy on electrical system, give the starter priority and put the cable on the block. That's what your main problem is right there.

 

Yup that got her going! I see the stud you're talking about but I didn't have a bolt that would fit in there, grounded it to where the air conditioning unit would be if I had one, but I do plan on switching over to that stud you're talking about, thanks guys!!! As always this place delivers a solution! Now I gotta figure out why I'm not getting anything to work in the cab, I'm thinking ignition switch on that one though

 

Check the fusible (sp?) links.

 

Hmm how do I do that? Would I be able to use a continuity tester or do I need something else?