New spark plugs: loss of power.. huh?? :?

i should have mentioned. I converted to single wire alternator last year... the alt seems to work fine. If i pull the positive cable off the battery with the engine running at a decent RPM, it will continue to run unless i turn on an electrical accessory...

If i leave the battery connected, it's dead by morning

 

I think where I'd start, is I'd unhook the postive battery cable and place a multimeter/ammeter in between it and the +. You should see something there--some small amount of current, and just start playing with things/unhooking various items until you can find the source of the drain. If you had a buzzer, you could even use that instead, and just start unhooking things till the buzzer stops. Luckily there really isn't that much on a flatty, seems like it wouldn't take too long to find.

If you don't see any amount of current flow, then I'd think your battery is shot.

Just think, it could be worse. My jeep used to start itself when nobody was looking. One afternoon I heard some noise outside, and opened my door to see this.


The rear tire was peeling out against the curb when I took this photo.

 

thanks guys... my electrical skills are a little rough, but i'll try your suggestions. w3srl there are no fuses on my flattie (except for the accessory fuse box i added), so how would i test circuits that arent fused?

 

Sounds like a case I had with the good ol' 1 cyl Kawasaki Enduro Bike. I use the import stuff in her, and she runs fine. Years of the 2 stroke cause fouling on the plugs. I may suggest to take your old plugs, get some Emory cloth and clean them up, go inside where your sparks created, mainly. Hold them in some pliers and torch the spark section off too, this works for me.
I replaced my plug with a new one once, kicked it over and it sounded like an 80 year old smoker in the morning. Back fires running crappy. Pulled it out, found out it was the wrong gap! Try gapping your new ones.
Just my $.02
-Sammy

 

X2 on leaving the rotor siting on the fender. Was helping a buddy time the 351 in a 70 Mach1 mustang and left the rotor on the fender and wondered why the timing light wouldn't flash. He realy jumped though when he pulled the cap back off and touched the coil terminal. Shockingly funny!!!