Okay i took my bronco to the exhaust shop after having it started for the very first time.. was driving it off the trailer.. then a puff of smoke came out from under the hood so i turned it off.. wires were hot. so i got her home today (via tow truck). replaced the starter solenoid (that's the general area the smoke came from).. the starter cranked.. and then it stopped.. and the voltage regulator just clicked and shaked everytime the key was turned.... after that i replaced the starter solenoid and the resistor stone, then put the ground on the other side of the starter solenoid.. she started, she ran for 15 minutes (when i turned her off) but she kept running.. then finally stopped after about 20 seconds or so. well i tried to start again afterwards and now the starter solenoid just clicks and shakes.. what gives?

btw i don't know if it matters but it's a '74, 302, not efi, and a new centech wiring harness

Hot wires can frequently equal a bad ground due to too much resistance. Check those first.

thanks for your help though woody.. it got me to where i am now :beer:

There is no ground wire on the starter solenoid.:confused:
Also, which resistor?

The back of the starter solenoid case is the ground and has to have very good contact with the metal fender.

Originally posted by zags
...which resistor?...
Different for Ford, Chevy, Dodge. Typically the Early Bronco resistors are in series with the 12V hot to the coil and drop the 12V down to about 6V. Did you recently do any other electical work like add dual batteries? The batteries need to be in parallel. If put in series, this would effectively double the voltage at the coil, and at the starter solenoid, and cause some of the general wire overheating.
As stated in above posts, a bad ground would also wreak havoc on your electical sytem. Although a poor electical connection would actually increase the resistance, thereby decreasing the current flow. Current flow is what heats up electical wires. So I would check for a short somewhere in the system. This would mean very low resistance and very high heat due to excess current flow. Take a voltmeter, preferably an analog meter so that needle deflection can easily be seen during engine cranking, and check some of the major components of the system. Do this with the ignition key off, on, and trying to start. Always reference the frame as ground and take lots of notes and get back to us. Good luck and keep us posted.
Travis,
MOGified XJ

figured it all out and learned ALOT, thanks fellas.

First you were right about the resistor, it was cracked in half but the person who replaced my whole wiring harness told me it'll be fine and to just replace it. I did that, and i also looked more carefully and found that he had the starter wire hooked up incorrectly to the starter solenoid, and that the wire was also on my hot ass headers (smoked the wire, burnt right through the insulation and everything) which caused it to not start again after replacing the starter solenoid a 2nd time, and the resistor stone i guess it's called. so now i've replaced the that cable and i got her started.. now the problem is she won't hold a charge :confused: im guessing it's the voltage regulator? basically what's going on is when i turn it off... i can't turn it back on, i have to jumpstart it or recharge the battery manually..