I need everyones help. I just bought an 83 Camaro Z28 w/ half a motor swap complete. All of the emissions equip has been removed but a lot of wires have been cut or left hanging. I hooked up my jump it to the dead battery to find my choke light and parking brake light on (engaged). My headlights and tails do work but my horn is dead and when I tried to start it just to see what would happen (plug wires and exhaust not hooked up), the motor barely cranked and the temp gauge started going back and forth (the sender not hooked up) and the tach pegged. I am thinking that most of this is caused by missing grounds, seeing when he pulled the old motor, he cut many wires. So, what I need is a list and location of all the grounds people can think of. I had a similar no start problem w/ my 88 monte ss. I found that the ground from the negative battery cable to the fender was loose. I hope someone can help!

Thanks
Nick
'88 Monte Carlo SS-200-4r Built 350 (by me), 462 Camel Humps, Hooker 2050 coated headers, Cummit 1103 Cam, Crane rockers, 3701 intake, Hooker Catback, etc all mounted on a rust free chassis and body. Nice Street/Strip Combo
'83 Camaro Z28-350, winter beater and project. Some rust but not bad at all, especially for $350.

 

Well as far as I can remember your choke light and parking brake light should come on because they are in test mode and the car is not actually running.
It does sound like you may have a missing ground or two.
I would check around the distributor for loose or disconnected wires. Check too see there is a ground from the block to the firewall.
The temp gauge probably moved because even though it's not hooked up, there is still power going throught the circuit.
I would probably try putting a fresh battery in it, then try and crank it to see if that helps any.
Cehck to make sure your horn is connected amd that it is mounted right. It may just have a bad ground if it's not mounted right.
Also check the fuses, make sure none of them are blown.
Good luck on getting it running.

 

My computer isn't connected and when the choke light and brake light were on, I didn't even have the key in the ignition. But I'm gonna put some new grounds everywhere I can think of.

Thanks
Nick