fusible links?

i have about 12.5 volts on the battery. And on both sides of the relay.

What do you mean by both sides? The relay has the large battery cable terminal, the smaller starter cable to activate the starter, the ignition power lead from the switch to activate the the relay which should only have power when you are in the start position and a neutral safety switch wire (on some cars)

Use a test light and see if the ignition wire has power when your switch is in the start position, if it does then ground the neutral safety terminal and try to start it, if it still don't start then I would say the relay is bad.


would the starter turn with a jumper wire if the relay was bad?
does anyone think it could be the fusible link?
Im just a young gun trying to learn the tricks of the trade!lol

Yes,

If the fusible link was bad, you wouldn't have power to your accessories.

We were all young once and problems like this is how we learned.