Basically this is what happened. I've got an 86 Z28, I built a new motor and rewired the whole car with summit's 18 ckt wiring harness. I tried starting the motor initially and it would turn over but wouldnt run. So we checked to make sure there was spark and there was, then we put the boot back on and tried again and no power at all, the main fusible link blew. I changed it and it keeps blowing. Ive tried the starter outside of the car and it works fine, if i take a test light to the + term and the grounding strap of the car it doesnt light up, it did initially though. I'm pretty sure ive got a dead short somewhere, i really have no idea where to look. There is no computer in the car anymore so i know its not that.Also, ive tried running a direct switch to the starter to try to start it bypassing the ign. switch and it still blows the link.I've ran out of ideas, i think ive checked everything and it seems good, except a voltmeter shows that there is a short on the line going to the gages and horn, i pulled both fuses and thats where im at now. Any help would greatly be appreciated.Thanks!

 

im confused as to where this "main link" is wired. are you saying there is a fuse in the big wire that goes to the starter? thats not normally the case. or the fuse powers the other circuits and that blows? either way you have to disconnect everything and add back one at a time until the fuse blows again. then you know where the problem is.

 

I think the problem was a bad ground to the engine/body. I changed my grounding location and i temp hooked up a switch to the starter to start the car and didnt hook up anything else except the coil, the motor will start that way. I havent hooked up the rest of the electronics yet, i figure ill try to do piece by piece to try and find any other possible problems.

 

Did you ever figure out what was wrong? My car is doing the same thing