Early Variable and Single Speed Motors... The Same?

Try making a long temporary jumper wire that goes from the ground at the switch, all the way to the negative battery terminal. If that fixes it, you are losing the ground somewhere between the switch and the body. Check then to see if the negative battery cable to body ground is making a good connection at both ends. If you had the dash frame out of the car to paint it, loosen the bolts up that secure the bottom legs of the dash frame to the kick panel/door jamb area. Shine both the back side of the dash frame leg where the bolt goes thru and the metal under it on the body side until you get to bare metal. Put some dielectric grease between those 2 pieces and bolt it back together and see if it gets a ground without the temp jumper in place. Bad grounds can cause some :realcrazy: problems. First car I ever restored was a Superbird and I got a good education about painted over grounding points on that car! :BangHead: Good luck to you and hang in there.....you'll get it fixed.