Electric Not working

[ICESKATER1611]

So i have a post going right now about the restoration of my 1970 spider. At this point i am looking into if i have to rebore the cylinders or not. While i wait on this i wanted to work on other parts of the car which brings me to the electrical.

I have a new battery in the car so i suspected the lights/blinkers should work. this car sat for good portion of 20 years in a garage. When I checked for spark i found i had non. I had to open the distributor and clean off some old build up on the connection point. Badda Bing after i cleaned the connection points i had spark.

my question to the forum is do you think i will need to clean all electrical connections to get the lights, blinkers, etc working? I was going to pull each connection, lightly sand each end and see what happens but didn't want to waste my time.

Thank!
Mike

[4uall]

I could never see it as a waste of time to clean the grounds etc

This might help 2nd video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YxW6bc_gk8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgwR9sYN5f0

[azruss]

One of the things i did in my restoration was to remove and clean every connection and ground. Fortunately, your 70 is far less complicated than my 80. I would at least do the basics so you wont be chasing ghosts. clean the following connection:
Battery connections, Battery ground to chassis, motor ground to chassis, battery connection to starter solenoid, all connections at the solenoid and alternator, remove all fuses and clean the ends as well as the the contact tongs and re-bend them so they hold good tension on the fuses. I think the 70 has spade connectors on the back of the key. clean all the connections going to the key. remove the lenses from all lights and clean the bulb receptacles. This is a good time to clean the lenses and reflectors and check the condition of the bulbs. I found that even old bulbs that work aren't as bright as new ones.

[DieselSpider]

Consider adding star washers to give ground connections more bite and getting some DeOxIt from Radio Shack. A Stainless Steel tooth brush sized wire brush from Home Depot or Harbor Freight will make cleaning things up a bit easier too.

[ICESKATER1611]

Another question to the Forum.

I am currently doing engine work so the engine is out of the car. Is there a way to test electrical components without the engine in the vehicle?

[seabeelt]

The only circuits that won't work are those associated with the engine itself. Think tach, temp, alt light, oil pressure. The thing to consider is that the alternator output went to the battery and the key and the fuse box, ( also a wire or two at the starter) you need to make sure those are tied together otherwise you won't have power to anything.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Consider adding star washers to give ground connections more bite and getting some DeOxIt from Radio Shack. A Stainless Steel tooth brush sized wire brush from Home Depot or Harbor Freight will make cleaning things up a bit easier too.

Yeah, a rotary tool with a wire wheel can be a good help as well if the corrosion isn't too hard. Sometimes you need one of those discs with the sandpaper flaps.

copper anti-seize is good to protect the ground going forward. AFTER deoxit treatment.

I'm not sure what size the shack sells now. They used to sell it in breath freshener quantities. I like the big can of DN5 bought direct from CAIG or through Amazon.