[garretthes]

I have been trying to bring this car back to life. I started by hooking the fusible link jumper wires up according to the diagram on the cover. Now I have power but when I hit the starter the condenser ground wire smokes. The insulation quickly scorched away. Is it just a bad condenser?

[garretthes]

ooops! Sorry, it's the COIL, not condenser. My bad.

[garretthes]

Seems the engine may not be grounded. The previous owner replaced the starter. The - cable the runs to the battery has 2 lugs. One is screwed to the chassis but the other now where. I can tell it USED to be attached. Could this cause the coil ground wire and ignition positive wires to smoke?

[vicrod]

I suspect that the ignition module inside the distributor is shorted. And likely burned out the coil.

The wire that runs from the coil to the distributor goes the internal trigger (ignition module). This fires the coil at the precise timing.

My concern is that the wiring smokes. Check for proper fusing.

The engine must be grounded directly to the battery so the starter will have a good source of current but is probably not part of the coil problem.

vicrod