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So recently i bought a 86 z28 Camaro 305 TPI with he auto tranny and Ive been stumped ever since i bought the car. bought it for a steal cause previous owner didnt want it taking space bought it for $1000 CAD and its in fair condition has little rust but nothing major but you know its a project. Quick rundown of the car its not perfect it didn't have a starter which i have bought waiting for delivery and other than that everything is intact. I hooked up a new battery made sure it was fully charged and no power was getting in so i thought maybe its a ground issue sanded down the grounds and made sure everything was snug but no power to the interior or the fuse box under the dash. previous owner seems to have tried to hook up a sound system and has spliced the wires underneath but im new to these cars and i dont wanna mess it up. Ive attached a photo of the bottom of the dash where all the wires are this is from the previous owners listing btw, i have the car stored nicely in a barn on 4 jack stands and i use it as my shop since im in the country side. i can take more precise photos if you guys need it im just hella stumped this is my first every muscle car which i bought because it looked cool and hell its a camaro. Any info or any help is much appreciated just want some help from the big leagues so 17 year old me can start this project and get her running
Get a factory service manual and electrical supplement. It's not gonna tell you what nonsense went on with previous owners but it'll tell you how its supposed to be.
The power to the fuse box comes from 2 Big Red Wires that connect to the battery at the big post on the starter with the batt cable. There are 3 smaller wires that go to the starter, besides the big cable. The 2 of them usually go (or at least went, from the factory) to one single large ring terminal and are the ones I'm talking about. The other is purple and has a smaller ring terminal. That one goes to the S terminal on the starter solenoid (the one closer to the block, if there are 2 small terminals on it).
Once all that is hooked up, you should have power to the interior. Be prepared for surprises when you hook all that up. I suggest you have someone else there with you at that time, watching everything inside the car, so you can deal with it quickly if necessary.
