Basically everything was going fine until we connected the battery... accidentally connected the battery links backwards. There was a little smoke from under the car as a result, but nothing visually seemed burnt.

The car is complete but now when we turn the key, the car just clicks (very fast clicks). i checked the ignition coils and it's good, the distributor is fine, and the spark plugs and the wires are all new.

Curious what else could be missing?

Editted on 10/13/15: Car is a GSL 12A, carburated, rats nest deleted.

 

Starter . Check how much power is in the battery . That gas clicking sound is usually the starter not having enough power.

 

Check your main fusible links located on the driver side shock tower. I bet one is blown or weak.

That clicking is your started solenoid trying to kick out for the start but then the starter isn't
turning, low power. Make sure the batter is recharged and good.

 

I checked hem and it's all been replaced by actual FSB fuses (rather than the stock wire they have)

Battery is recharged and good. I just realized I only have two of the wires connected on the starter, the one not connected is the one nearest to the transmission, but I don't see a wire that can connect to it (not without replacing the wire head.) Wednesday is my day off where I'm going to look up wiring diagrams and completely make sure everything is wired correctly.

Is there a chance that the wire for it could have been burnt to ashes because I connected the battery cables backwards? Or is my mind overthinking this.

FYI, this is my first complete car project where I have to deal with the electrical

 

There is also a fuseable link that connects the exciter voltage to the starter.

 

There should only be 2 wire connected to the starter on is the main power wire that connects to the battery and the other should have a female spade connector that send the signal from the switch .

 

Actually, you should have 3 wires off of the starter - the Red (+) from the battery which is switched on, the Black (-) ground which also comes directly from the battery after the attachment point at the driver's side strut tower, and then the smaller wire which is switched by the ignition.

The (+) and (-) are heavy gauge stranded wire and obvious. The switched lead is thinner because all it has to do is connect 12v to the Bendix (solenoid) which then powers the contactor which runs the starter motor. In this fashion, the pinion gear on the starter makes contact with the ring gear on the flywheel BEFORE the starter motor starts turning - avoiding damage to ring gear teeth.

When you have a discharged battery trying to spin the engine, the Bendix (solenoid) only has enough current to push the pinion into the flywheel, and then loses electromagnetic force to keep it there and also power the contactor to run full 12v through the starter motor coils - resulting in the click, but no spin of the starter.

I'm with the other guys that you have a problem with the Bendix (solenoid) which is replaceable on our starters for about $17 at Autozone, but I've also found that occasionally only changing the solenoid won't fix the no-start issue. The whole starter is only about $75 last time I checked, and worth replacing all at once - given the effort to replace the Bendix also means pulling the entire starter out.

As a stop-gap measure, try whacking the bottom of the starter with a hammer - this can sometimes shake loose any carbon or dirt which is keeping the contactor from making contact - and will allow you to start the car ONCE. Gets annoying to climb under the car with a hammer every time you need to start it, though...

 

Hey long duck I didn't mention the ground because technically it's not connected to the starter itself. But you are correct their are 3 wires the ground should actually be connected to the long bolt for the starter between the long bolt and the rear iron.

 

Here is the starter wiring with fusable link.

 

Why not remover the starter, and test it with jumper cables connected to the battery? It isn't hard to do if your were skilled enough to do an engine swap.

Reversed battery cables....blown fuse link. No biggie. Been there.

If you opt to replace the starter, get it from NAPA. I've had bad luck with ones from Autozone, Advance Auto, Pepboys.....

 

just wanted to let everyone know that I bought a shell without the ecu and did not check.

Just curious, is there an easy way to transplant a GSL (carb) ECU into a GSL-SE wiring connectors? or would I basically need to strip the new shell as well to re-install the wiring.

Already started taking the old GSL shell apart (just got the carpet and dash off)

 

I'm not sure about electrical but the way distributor timing and everything works is first through the ECU? power windows/headlamps were working so I didn't think about the ecu at all.

 

You cannot use a GSL (N249) ecu on a GSL-SE (N304). They are entirely different in function. The N304 unit runs the fuel injection as well as serves as an emissions control unit. The N249 unit is simply an emission control unit that does very little other than send signals to advance or retard the timing based on inputs from the throttle sensor and advance the timing when the choke is pulled. Other than that it runs solenoids that control emissions.

 

would the starter not work without being connected to the ECU? I have all emissions deleted anyways, including choke disabled (I manually controlled the gas pedal, Florida is all year round 80-90F anyway.)

I'm asuming maybe I need to just directly connect the starter to the ignition key somehow?

 

The starter will still work fine without the ECU hooked up.