FRUSTRATED! Electrical issues! Options

[SKL1]

Here comes the rant- the electrical issues are driving me nuts.

Other than putting the car back together (and everything worked when I dissassembled it) I put in a JWest fuse panel. When first bringing the car back to life with a battery, many things are NOT working. Headlight motors have power as I can raise them by turning the little knobs until the lights go thru a cycle, but they don't go up with the light switch. Also, no headlights, just parking lights. At first, emergency flashers and turn signals worked, now the flasher just makes a horrible buzzing sound, and the signals flash at about double speed.

Also, bench test shows starter is fine, but when in car, nothing happens when turning igntion switch. Also, shorting the starter with screw driver doesn't activate it.

Oh, and the light in the top of left gauge continues to flash whenever ignition is on- I think that's warning for brakes- E brake is off, and wiring to master cylinder is connected, though there is no blade connector on it for the ground...

And NO fog lights...

Have NEW ground strap from tranny to body and battery to body...

I have NO idea even where to START!!

I've been working on these cars for over 40 years, and HATE electrical issues!!!

[damesandhotrods]

You’re going to need 12 volts going from the battery to the ignition switch. It’s going to have to go through the ignition switch (start) to the solenoid. Once the solenoid is energized, it should provide 12 volts directly from battery to the starter.

When you tested the starter on the bench, you didn’t attach the battery to the starter; you attached it to the solenoid. The starter draws a lot of electricity, (amperage = volume). The solenoid is basically a large relay, and the means to engage the starter.