About a few weeks ago I purchased an Edelbrock performer intake manifold and holley 650cfm carb with new air cleaner in a combo kit from summit for my '83 Bronco w/351-W. A friend from church said he would help me put it on cause he had more tools and knowledge than i. We started off by disconnecting the battery cables. Then after we pulled the air cleaner assembly off we noticed the spagetti of vacuum lines (emissions stuff). We labled a few and took them off, but my friend figured all the emissions was tied together and we could remove all of it ( the new manifold was non-EGR) but he had to check into it. a week later the man & carb still wasn't put on yet and i needed to pull a stump. So i recconected everything i thought we took off. At first it wouldn't start but the interior lights would come on when a door was opened. So i charged the battery and overnight it rained (i think some leaked into under the hood cause it wouldn't shut cause of the charger). Next day it started to turn over but popped. I checked everything with a voltage meter and when i turned the key it showed no current past the solenoid. We bought a new one and replaced it. We also got a new battery and it shows a good 13-14 volts at the cables. But now, no interior lights will come on and the engine won't make a sound. Used to it clicked but nothing now. Is it a blown fuse? Where would it be located? Could someone give me some advice? Sorry about the long story( i didn't want to leave anything out) Thanks.

 

Sounds like a bad ground. Check the connections on your negative cable really well, and check the cable too. If in doubt, replace it, and make sure there is no rust, paint, etc. where you attach it to. You should be able to narrow this down to whatever you disconnected during the installation. I would start with the negative battery cable, and anywhere that you disconnected or even moved it. I think there is also a grounding strap or wire somewhere that you can check but I am not sure where it is. Usually it is a rather wide strap of braided wire, silver in color, and may run from the engine to the firewall. Hope this helps.