No power to the radio, tach screwy

[Nightpath]

I removed the dash of my car and repainted it. When I put it back in I never noticed that the 2 wires for the radio that control it to turn off/on with the key were touching bare metal (temporary cap I had on it fell off). Heard a snap and now no power is coming through the always live wire.

Also when I put the dash back in the tach doesn't seem to want to work. It'll work for 5 seconds then railroad itself to 0 and stay there.

Anyone have any ideas ?

[Nightpath]

Thinking on wiring the radio directly to the battery with an inline fuse.

As for the tach i still have no frigging idea.

[IowaEagle]

Factory or aftermarket tach?    Does the lighter work?  It shares its fuse with the radio?

[Nightpath]

I wired the radio to have it's own feed from the battery. I have a nice fat wire with a fuse right in the middle. No idea if the lighter works since I have that part of the dash disassembled.

As for the tach, it's stock. It was working A-1 before I pulled the dash off, but it's not now. Going to have to check that Tach feed wire. I'm debating wiring it up to the ACC (power)and directly to the HEI distributor so it'll have power and a direct connection.

[Nightpath]

Not sure if my radio is bad or something else. When I stall out our turn the car off the radio goes back to default.

It's a cheap eBay radio and I have another coming but if it's not. ..

[Mernsy]

The radio probably has a separate power wire for the memory presets stuff.  It needs to be live all the time.

[Nightpath]

That's what I have hooked up, straight 12v supply as required. Seems random whwn it resets but it's at least 90% of the time after I stall stop or have to turn the ignition.

[Mernsy]

Where is it hooked in at? Might be a clue to the stalling.

[Nightpath]

To the wire that turns the radio on when the car is turned on. Only write in the stock loom I'm not using is the power wire

[Mernsy]

The wire that powers the presets memory has to be live all the time. If it's switched you will lose your presets and memory every time you turn the key off.

[Nightpath]

That's what had been leading me to thinking that the radio isn't working properly.

I do know that my HEI distributor (which has something wrong internally) was causing electrical issues.

[Nightpath]

Loose wire in the radio connectors. Was *just* enough in so it couldn't be noticed, but would cause the radio to be a jerk. And the HEI has something wrong with it.

Le sigh.