I bought this 87 Formula from some people that were good at coming up with unothodox ways to make things run... The motor sounded great and it had an Edelbrock. It didn't have a battery or require a key to turn the ignition. When they had it hooked up to the charger, I started it and stopped it a few times with no glitches. Drove it home and parked it in the garage. After purchasing a battery, I attempted to install it but kept hearing a Bendix sound every time I connected the posts. How could the solenoid be turning if it started ok before and drove fine. Could it be a hardwired fuel pump? Any compressor? Am I just starting on a long journey through the wiring harness of my new money pit? Any thoughts?

Sadly, your last senstence sums it up best! Even if there's no apparent hacking, 90% of us have found at least some wire hacking in our cars somewhere at some time - the cars are old enough to have it, and since they were and still are favored by teens, there's no telling what you'll come across.

{no disrespect meant to teens - but you must admit, compared to us old folks, you guys typically tend to take short cuts. 30+ folks are not used to instant gratification - ie video games - 30 under folks have had it bred into them - I know - I have 5 teen boys!}

Oh God - I just reread that - somebody SHOOT ME!

Noise might be fuel pump or the mixture solenoid on the carb.

Thanks for giving me the courage to hold on longer than 30 seconds. I screwed in the ground and the pumping sound? stopped before a minute was up. If I broke contact it started again, but for now it's connected and sitting quiet, all mysterious like.. You got that right about the imagination I expect to encounter. Well, my first car was a '53 Dodge Red Ram with a Hemi that I bought off someone's lawn for $400. Somehow, I made that my high school daily driver. When this car was new, I was buying the Turbo T-Bird. Now, I get the chance to see what I missed, and looking forward to it. I'm glad there's this forum to come for answers.