electrical problem

[wraenking]

i hope this isnt going to be too bad

i went to go start up the motor today, and my buddy said there was smoke rising up from behind the motor.

the braided wire that comes out from the firewall and is attached to the back of the engine was really hot. plus i just did the 89-91 grille swap, and the dark blue wire for the blinker was a little burnt where i spliced it. i just put in the engine, and the manifold did burn a little of the wiring harness (outside part or so i thought)

what do i do, and where do i start. i was so psyched to bring this down to get exhaust in, and now im panicking!!

 

[wraenking]

ttt

 

[1-ton]

You have a hot wire grounded out some where. The battery should be disconnected until you find it. When you say you did a grill swap that burned headlamp wiring, and a motor swap that burned major wire harness wires, then your problem could be any one of a hundred miles of wires in your truck, and it will be hard for anybody to give you any clue on wher the problem might be.

 

[Storm Trooper]

1st thing I would do is check the area that the manifold melted. From the outside the wires might look good but if it got hot enough, the copper wires inside might have melted together. Carefully open it up and make sure all the wires are seperated and not melted together.
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the braided wire that comes out from the firewall and is attached to the back of the engine was really hot.

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If this is a bear wire it is a ground wire and if you put it on the motor that was freshly painted, it will not provide a good ground for the motor. This connection itself could cause smoke. The motor MUST be properly grounded with the connection points being clean, not painted. You also may want to add an extra ground wire from the body to the motor. Start with that and if your still not finding anything, let us know and we will see what we (I) can come up with.
Best of luck, I hope it works out to be easy because electrical shorts can be a really PITA.