try moving the battery terminals....could be corrosion.

 

when you turn the key is there complete silence or do you hear 'click-click-click'?
I would first check that everything is tightly connected. are your battery cables corroded? is the ground good? it might be solenoid (or connection to the solenoid)...

 

All new - down to the frame restore. New wire harness and fuse panel has no blown fuses.

 

Sounds like you may have cooked a fusable link or blown a fuse.

 

How do I check for a fusable link?

 

In reply to:

when you turn the key is there complete silence or do you hear 'click-click-click'?

No sound at all! Except me cursing a bit!

 

I agree with Skellator, sounds like a fuseable link. Turn the key on, check to see if you have voltage going to the coil(+). Should be about 3-4 volts DC. If you don't have a volt meter, check with a test light, and the light should show a little brightness, cuz is only 3-4 volts. If no power to the coil, then you have a fuseable wire that comes from the ignition switch to the coil. After the engine is running, this coil voltage will increase, but is only minimum voltage to start with.
OK, if you don't have any voltage anywhere except the battery, start checking ALL of your primary wiring (12V.) starting with the grounds. That is MOST likely your problem. Check as to the direction of the current flow,(+) i.e. battery, to solenoid, to starter. Then check wiring from the battery to the alternator, to the field (rest of the Jeep). Could be as simple as a blown fuse, but a loose connection is MOST likely as this is a restoration. (Damn, I thought I tightened that up!)

 

One of the ways to test a fusable link is to pull on both ends of it. If it stretches then its blown. Or you can just put an ohm meter on it and see if current is flowing through. If no current then its blown. If it is blown I'd try and track down why it did blow because those should be the last thing go before the wires catch on fire.

 

The fusable link is the first few inches of red wire coming off the starter solinoid from the same post the battery positive cable connects to.

 

No crank, no headlights, no nuttin? But 12 v at the battery?

Battery cables/connections, even a defective battery.

You measured 12 volts at the posts, but how 'bout when you try to crank it? If at the posts it drops waaay down while trying - defective battery - common with side posts.

New doesn't mean good.

Put the voltmeter on the other end of the battery cable and crank - try - if at the post retains 12 volts, but the other end doesn't - cable. Do that on both cables.

Make sure the (-) cable grounds to the engine, not the body.
Make sure there's a good ground strap between engine to body.

Let us know what you find.

 

Loose ground!!! Boy do I feel stupid!