Electrical Issues
Problem #1: Put my car (original, complete, unrestored, Day2, 69 RS-SS 350/300) away a month ago running great, purring like a kitten as it has for the last 45 years. Tried to start it last week and it started but ran HORRIBLE; it would not run at all w/o foot on the gas. Points were burnt, filed them down, tried a start and it idled unassisted but still ran horrible. Thinking I was on the right track, I replaced the 15-20 year old points, condenser, rotor, and cap. Now it wouldn't start at all. Plugs were really fouled, but I cleaned them and put them back in temporarily. Tried again and it didn't even consider starting. Tested resistance on the the coil which tested marginally OK at 1.5 and 11.77. Set the point gap manually ~.19. Hooked up a timing light to see if I was getting a spark. Nope. ANY GUESSES as to what was happening?
Problem #2: Feel free to call me an idiot, I've been doing it, myself, for the last 3 hours. The last time I messed with the coil I forgot to disconnect the negative battery cable. I noticed a little smoke and realized to my horror that the double wire off the + side of the coil was touching the metal shell of the coil. It was hot and parts of the fiberglass insulation and rubber were crinkled and burnt on one of the wires. I taped it up really good temporarily for one last attempt to see if I could at least get a spark. I rechecked the point gap which was actually little too wide, so I fixed that. Tried to start it and I thought I heard it "try to fire." Tried a 2nd time and I only got one quick metallic "clank" from the starter. Tried a 3rd time and it now does nothing; no cranking, no interior lights, nothing. I see no burnt fuses. Did I fry the ignition harness? Did I re-fry that one damaged wire? Can I replace just the section of the harness from the ignition switch to the coil? Is it time for me to retire from messing with cars? Thanks. Insults gladly accepted.
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