Percolation? Heat soak? Don't drive during summer??
Make a trip to Vegas and fix my wiring for me??? I got beer and will smoke some brisket for you...
Would if I could! LOL. There's one trade show each year that sometimes takes me back there, not sure it will happen this year though. If or when I find myself in your neighborhood, I'll definitely reach-out though.
It's not too hard though, you can do it!
@crackedback sells a
wire-around which is an easy install. Just bolt it to the alternator charge stud, and then to your battery splice (with careful routing between). This effectively bypasses the ammeter and provides a high-current path from the alt to the battery and reduces the load on the bulkhead and the dash cluster.
He also sells a headlight relay kit, which would remove the next greatest load from your dash/interior harness. Do those two things, and probably 90% of your wiring concerns will be gone. Also note that these are not impossible to make yourself, but honestly I've looked at his cost compared to buying the materials, and his cost is WAY more than fair to save you quit a bit of labor.
The tougher part is finding what's causing your amp draw between the battery and the ammeter (if anything is). It could just be that your battery is low due to not enough driving and lots of sitting. Do you have a trickle charger? If so, top up your battery and take a look at your ammeter again the next time it's running. A fully charged battery should result in a very neutral ammeter needle position, especially after ~10 mins at driving rpm. If there's still current feeding across the ammeter with the battery completely charged then it can get a little more complicated. Using a multi-meter, checking for voltage drop can help isolate where that current is going. Once you get the stalling issue fixed, a new thread for that will probably help you get it isolated and figured out.
For now, I think focus on why the coil runs before cranking and zaps you when you get near it.
Dielectric grease is your friend, and making sure all your boots and grounds are good is very important too. Put a pea-sized dab of grease on all your high-voltage connections. This helps seal out moisture and also helps prevent voltage from 'surface charging' various materials and finding it's way to your skin. Check all your sparkplug wire connections as well to ensure they're fully seated and don't have water or some other crud in them.
I fought a misfire on a Jeep for 2 years only to eventually discover that one of the plug wires had a garbage terminal that wasn't making good contact with the cap. I had checked the wires a dozen times too!
An inline spark tester can be useful in some instances (doesn't require a helper to hold the screwdriver while looking for a spark) and I think @jpar or someone else mentioned running it in the dark and looking for arcs/sparks too - which is sound advice. If your coil is leaking voltage, it can jump to ground through the mounting bracket and cause a no-start or misfire. I like to keep the mounting bracket near the center or lower end of the coil for this reason (I've seen vibration cause coils to ride the top 'cap' against the bracket and chafe a bit until the oil leaked out, and also have seen a bad coil wire "carbon-track" back to the bracket and cause a no-start).
