No electric after putting in new engine
 

I a new and desperate for help. I was given a 76 corvette in boxes. Now I have it ready to start Hooked the battery but no power, no bells, no lights nothing. What am I missing?:mad::rolleyes::eek:

uh----------------------power?
Where the wires hook on the the starter there is the big terminal and one or two small ones. On the big one will be the battery cable and some smaller wires,most of which are "fusible links". They are either not connected or are blown. "Fusible links" are just smaller wires spliced into a larger wire,like maybe a short piece of 14 in a #10 so when you get a short,the 14 melts and saves the rest of the loom.
Do you have power at the large terminal on the alternator?
Another possibility is grounds,corvettes are made of non-conductive materials,so you have to run grounds to everything. If the main ground off the battery is dirty or not hooked up you will not have any power to anything. You might measure from the battery minus terminal to various places and see what you have?
Good Luck!
Ron

Thank for the information. I am looking for the fuseable link. Is it the plastic cylinder looking piece or is it the tow wires "soldered " together.

This car was literally in boxes. It has been a "father ,son project" for two different families. So this is an uphill battle.

One method is to use a continuity tester. ( non powered )
Start at the bat and continue on from there.
One lead to the pos side of the bat, the other to the block. If nothing happens there you'll need to check your grounds. Once you have a ground established to the block you can use it for your neg lead on your tester. Now you can move on with the pos tester lead and test each wire from the bat pos terminal and on down the line.
Good luck, electics can be really frustrating.

Oh ya, be sure to have your key in the on position. You'll need to do that to check all of the wiring. ( ...and a fully charged battery )

Possibly both. The giveaway here is the fitting on the end,it will be the right size to go over the post on the starter solenoid. Then with an ohmeter of test light you can check for continuity. Check for power at the large terminal on the starter,from there to the engine and to the frame and to battery negative terminal. The results of that test will speak volumes. If all tests are good there,then start checking the small (er,they're still pretty big,at least one is a #10) wires that connect there. One goes directly to the alternator,one goes to the fuse box. I'm pretty sure you'll find the problem by now.

On mine, the fusible link is about a four inch wire loop sticking out of the wiring harness going down the firewall. It is a smaller gauge wire and has connectors on each end to aid in replacement. Its purpose is to burn out much like a fuse before the wiring harness overheats and sets something on fire. A car fire is a bad thing but in a plastic car, it's a disaster.