I recently rebuilt my motor, and was hoping to start it today... I connected everything, and as soon as I turned on the key switch, I has a wire under the hood get very hot.
The wire comes from the firewall, where all the wires connect to the fuse box, and ends at a fork connector, that is also connected to another wire.
The wire is dark green (I think,) and it has:
"Do not cut, Resistor Wire"
written on it.
I didn't completely fry it, but it got damn hot.
Can you tell me;
First, what does the wire do?
Second, where is it supposed to connect?
Third, why did it get hot?

I basically had it grounded to the firewall, and I suspect thats why it got warm, so knowing where it is supposed to go would probably fix my problem.

The motor started fine without it connected.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

If its the resistor wire it should have went to the coil with and original points distributor. Is the car converted to HEI? If so you would not use the resistor wire since the HEI needs the full 12 volts. The resistor wire would just need to be taped up and not hooked to anything.

That is me guessing. If you have pics posted I can't see them from work.

PS Welcome to the site.

 

I did upgrade to HEI...
After I posted the question, the thought came to me that it was probably that wire.
I have been lurking on the site for a while... just watching posts, and reading, but I have never needed to reply or post anything til now.
No pics yet... my 72 convertible has about 5 different shades of primer on it, and I don't want to show it off....yet.
It is getting there though.
I have my interior 90% done.
The motor is close...
I am trying to attach a photo of how I am going to paint it... not sure how the attachments work yet.
Anyway, thanks for your help.
I will wrap that wire with tape, and forget about it...
Like I said, everything seemed to work fine without the wire connected.