I have a 1987 ford ranger witha 2.9 l v6 in it. i was told that all it needed to run was a starter and a new distributor. well after replacing the starter, distributor, cap, rotor, battery and some other little things it still doesn't run or for that matter when i put the key in to start it none of the lights go on and there is absolutely no response from anything in the truck.

however when i was hooking up the new battery i accidently croosed the two cables (whos idea was it to make the positive cable black?). one more thing is that when i turn it over by shorting out the solenoid the lights and everythin works which has me puzzled. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jon