I posted a while ago about this problem and I have yet to find out what is going on. So, I will give you the entire story so I don't miss anything. Car has never started since I've got it, about 4 months but my cousin had it running about a year ago.
Car: 1984 z28 H.O. 5 speed 300k on engine.

First thing I did was change the ignition switch b/c my cousin, who I got the car from, lost the key. There are also title issues that I am taking care of so that is why I didn't just get a replacement key. So that got taken care of.
I tried to fire it up and nothing. Meaning there is no cranking at all but there is a ticking coming from the air filter for about 20 seconds when I push the clutch in and turn the key to start.

Next came the starter. I got the starter out and had it checked at my local autozone and saw the guy test it. It worked fine. So I check the wires that are connected to the starter. The positive wire that is coming from the battery looked fine but I replaced it anyways. There is also a wire that is coming through the interior of the car that I believe is manually, via a switch next to the steering wheel, turning the fan on that is behind the radiator. It is a fusable wire that was actually cut! So I thought maybe that was the issue. So I bought a fusable linkage wire to replace it but no luck in starting. So I looked at the other wire that is connecting to the starter which is by itself. Not sure what this wire powers but it has a much smaller ring that is fit through the bolt on the starter. There is a small cut in the plastic on the ring but it looks to be fine. I then replaced the negative cable from the battery just in case but that did nothing either. The battery is brand new but I had left a light on so it died. So I've been jumping the car with a truck that has a brand new battery and some jumper cable.

Ok so after all that I wanted to make sure the engine was not seized, taking advice from another member here. I hand cranked the engine to make sure it turned and it did but with some difficulty. I've never done this before but I did manage to get the engine to turn a few times with a wrench and some muscle.

That's about where I am at now. The steering wheel is off the car, if that makes a difference. My thinking is that the starter should at least be making some noise if there is power going to it since it was tested and verified that it works. Is that accurate? Anyways, any thoughts would be awesome, I'm stuck here. Thanks guys.

 

how hard was it to turn over by hand? like rusted on bolt hard? or like opening a twist top beer bottle hard? if it was the former, id take out the spark plugs and shoot a little bit of wd 40 down the spark plug holes and let it sit for about an hour then try turning it over again. you can also verify the starter works in the car by ensuring its hooked up to the battery and crawling under the car and using a screw driver to jump power from the pos post to the soleniod post. if it turns over doing that then theres a problem in the cranking circuit itself.

 

More like a rusted bolt. But I was able to turn it a little by hand. I watched the guy at autozone hook it up to a battery and test the starter so I know it works.

 

my question is if the started tested fine and it's hooked up to my battery thats getting jumped, should it make some kind of noise if its getting juice?

 

Ok, so the more reading I do, the more I think this fusible link I replaced may be the problem. I replaced it with this kind of universal thing that has a place to put any kind of fuse in it because the guy at the auto store was not sure what replacement linkage I needed. So he told me to try that and keep putting in different fuses until I got one that stopped blowing when I tried to turn the car on. Well, they all keep blowing. Any idea what amount of ampage is correct for the fusible linkage that goes to the starter and what that powers?

 

the fusable links dont supply power to the starter. it gets juice directly from the battery. the fusable links supply battery to the interior. do all your lights and such work inside the cabin? if so its not the fusable link. if youre turning the key and nothing is happening its either 2 things:

the starter isnt getting the signal from the key on the solenoid wire or
the motor is seized too much for the starter to spin it.
jumping the pos terminal and the solenoid terminal on the starter with it hooked up to battery power will tell you which one fairly quickly.

 

Alright. So all i do is put a screw driver on both posts that are on the starter with it hooked up to the battery and it should spark a lot? If that happens, then what's probably.my issue? The engine seized or there is no signal going to the starter from the key?