77 280Z - A big mistake was made...

[Volition73]

In the middle of a battery swap (let's call him Bob) put the wrong wires on the battery terminals...Bob claims there was a spark and quickly pulled the wire off when he realized what he had done. I can see how this was an easy mistake cuz the positive on my car has a black boot on it from the PO and I've never thought to change it...Shouldn't have let someone else do this...Anyway... The car was previously running like a champ but now it will crank but will not fire. When I try to start the car I don't hear the "clicks" anymore for the relays so I started looking into it deeper...I've checked for spark by using some starting fluid and it will indeed run for a few seconds on it. I've also tested to see if the fuel pump is dead by pulling the small wire off the starter and turning the key to "ON" and can indeed hear the pump whirring and I can also hear a rushing sound on the fuel rail...I looked around online and it seems it might be either the fuel pump relay and or ECU...I know there are differences in the 75-78 fuel systems and I'm pretty sure I've got the dual fuel relay setup that are above the driver side left knee just above the ECU and by the hood release handle...Now before I throw parts at it, can anyone lend some knowledge? I have heard to try and hot wire the fuel pump to the battery but I don't know enough about the system to know if this would help or not...Also to change out the fuseable links but they seem ok...

 

Thanks!

[datzenmike]

If the ignition was off.... there probably wasn't much that was connected backwards. I would check all the fuses and specially the fusible links.

 

 

[Volition73]

Can't confirm the ignition position at the time of the accident...I just swapped around the fusible links to the head light position to see if they all worked using the headlights as an indicator and they all check out...Weird thing is that if I let it sit for about 45 mins and go try to start it it will fire up but die immediately...is there a fuse panel I'm not aware of on the 77's? The only panel I thought there was was the one on the passenger side and it only  has things like the cig lighter, lights, horn, and wipers..nothing that seems to correlate with the ignition or the fuel system...