Alright I finally put my replacment rebuilt carb on, and finished putting my newly refinished dash back together. I hooked up my pod of autometer gauges (oil pressure, volt meter, and water temp) I also finally installed an old ac delco am/fm radio. Everything seems to be working great! I hooked the battery back up, it didn't instantly explode into flames, which is good. It cranked right over and started. I haven't driven it around yet because I still have some stuff to button up but it feels good! Now my question is about the proper operation of the voltmeter. When I turn the key to start it up, it goes to 12 volts....then while it is cranking, it drops to 8, an once it starts it goes up to 14. That sounds right....right?? One other little issue I came across was that my dome light will only turn on when I open the doors. I cannot manually turn it on by turnig the light switch all the way to the left "divit" or whatever that's called. I have studied the wiring diagram but I dont know what the hell I'm lookig at. Also I had the hood open on the initial startup, and noticed when I first cranked that I had a little sizzle and steam from my battery posts. I noticed this because I had recently cleaned and greased up the posts after installing my new negative wire. I haven't gotten around to my positive yet. Anyway does that sound normal? I ask because I am a spaz about electrical stuff. I hate it to say the least. I am always concerned that I am going to come out in the morning and the car will have been incinerated. One of the first things I did years ago when I go the car was to replace the hacked up old wiring harness with a fairly fresh one out of another 1972 cutlass. Still old, but looked like it had barely touched. I would eventually like to update the whole system, but not in the budget right now. All I can do is make sure everything is clean and secure and where it should be.

 

I started a neg cable on fire once because of improper grounding. Now I have 4 ga wires and braided grounds everywhere. I think the 2 most important ones are from the neg term on Batt . Run one directly to a starter bolt and from there run one to frame and from the neg post on batt run another 4 ga to core support , also 4 ga from engine to frame , braided from engine to firewall , gas tank to frame, make sure you get rid of paint at connections.
I dont think that any smoke or sizzling would be considered normal.

 

Your voltmeter sounds exactly right. When the engine is running, the voltage across the battery terminals should be 14-15 volts. It should be little over 12 with the engine off, and it will drop when cranking.

As far as the dome light, you might have a broken rheostat on the headlight switch. I had a similar problem with my '73, except with mine, I could only turn the dome lights all the way on or off. They couldn't be dimmed. I needed a new headlight switch. They're not expensive (I paid $11), but you have to do some disassembly of the dash to get at it.

 

You grease the posts and clamps after it was back together?
A loose or dirty connection will sizzle and fry.
You should put in a battery cut-off switch if you're worried about the wiring. In fact everybody should have a battery cut-off. You can't trust old wiring and even new stuff can have gremlins, why take the chance? I've had them on my cars forever it seems. It's such a habit now I don't even think about opening the hood and shutting it on and off when I start and shut it down. Makes it a lot easier to work on the car too, just shut it off when you do any wiring stuff instead of messing with removing the cable.
Keeps the trunk light off at shows too.

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Discon.../dp/B00099YOV8

 

I think this is a great idea for old cars as I'm always disconnecting the battery to work on stuff, but I would never do this with a modern car. There are computer modules and entertainment system presets that would lose their settings every time the battery was disconnected. Your car would have to "relearn" its fuel mixture settings each time you started it, and you would, of course, be constantly resetting your radio's clock and station presets. If your car has an alarm system, that would be disabled, too, as would your ability to lock and unlock your doors with your keyless remote.

Except for the optional dashboard clock, there was nothing in a car made before about 1980 that drew anything from the battery when the car was off. Nowadays, there's about a dozen things that would not work or not work properly if the battery were continually disconnected.

 

I am pretty sure JB's Aston Martin rocket launchers worked with the key on or off as did the passenger exit assist!!

 

Thanks Bluevista! I just bought one. I am still in process of getting my CS roadworthy, and I was afraid all of the intermittent battery connecting would ruin the battery.