almost nothing works, headlights, brake lights etc etc

[deesandvees]

After putting in my new motor minus the computer I hooked up all my lights and nothing works other than the reverse lights. The dash lights, dome lights, head lights, tail lights, brake lights, nothing. Not sure what to look for but I did some checking around with the wiring from the starter to the fuse box and am curious about something I found...Their's 3 red wires coming from the starter I believe, 2 go to the fuse box (along with the purple of course) and then their's one which heads over to what looks like a little metal box with 2 mounting holes that maybe has 2 grounds coming out of it also. I've got the electrical supplement manual but not too good at reading schematics.

[silicon212]

These wires are the fusible links and pretty much provide power to the entire vehicle (from the (+) lug on the starter). If one of these is broken or improperly installed, then the behavior you report could happen.

[deesandvees]

Thanks Silicon, this is probably important info because understanding the car's electrical is so important and satisfying once you've got it, at least to me it is. Here's what the fix was like you said. Wasn't getting voltage through one of those black cylinder fuse things back to the fuse panel. And it seems like a dumb place to put them right by the starter and the fact that they're not replaceable without cutting wires too, maybe they have to be there because of the fuseable link wire length requirements?

I cut the black cylinder fuses out and butt connected the wires together so now everything's back working nicely (except my instrument cluster lights and fuel guage but that's another thread coming soon, I swapped my deluxe instrument cluster out for a 9C1 cluster and having problems).

I would like to install inline removeable fuses on the 3 red power wires that come from the starter, probably up by the trani dipstick would be a good place so I could actually get to them if something like this happens again. What amp fuses should I install on each of the 3 red wires? I'm not sure what the amperage on the fuseable link wires are, I think one said 16 and one said 6 on it. And one had two wires going into it and the other, just one wire. And I believe the red wires go like this: 1 to the heater system, 1 to the accessory lights etc system, and 1 to the ignition system.

My new headers (nice ceramic wow they're great for heat dissipation, highly recommended Hedman's, worth $500 I say) wrap right near the starter and disconnecting and reconnecting the wires on the starter are a real pain in the ass so I'm hoping to avoid that in the future.

Before picture:

[silicon212]

The black 'cylinders' are not the 'fuses' - the orange wires are. The black cylinders are simply connectors.

Leave the fusible links on there - that's what the electrical system is designed to run with. The aluminum strip in a fuse will weaken or melt from the heat of the exhaust - that's why there's fusible links instead. A fusible link is a wire with a special rubber insulation, that is 2 wire gauge sizes smaller than the wire it protects.

[deesandvees]

Okay they're still there so I'm cool. So I won't be needing to add fuses in a convenient location then. But Silicon why use fuseable link wire down at the starter rather than just power wire with conveniently located fuses? Seems like it would be easier to fix if something happens like a stuck starter solenoid maybe. What's your input?