When troubleshooting, why not start with the simplest, easiest, non costly method? Its only my opinion, but a car with 40+ year old wiring more than likely will have (or have soon) a corrosion problem that will effect the electrical system. One of the first troubleshooting checks in Kalli's writeup is....
"and a good known battery. don't waste your time and try that with a flat battery"
and the original poster stated
"i also got a new battery about a year ago so i dont think it would be that but ill check"
again, I would recommend the simplest solution first as did Kalli's link

 

You bring up a good point. I overlooked pointing it out because it seems so obvious.

The first step in the troubleshooting process is of course to make sure you have a good, hot battery. If you don't have a charger to charge it up before your tests, just remove it and take it to Sears, AutoZone or anywhere that they sell batteries and they will test it for you.

Once a hot battery is in place, follow the troubleshooting process. Any other approach is just shooting in the dark.

Good catch eleanor!

 

i really appericiate your help and i plan on doing the tests this weekend, my bros appartment got broken itno over the weekend so i had to deal with that crap. i have a battery charger at home, the problem is every time i change the settings on the tester the voltage changes. i think the battery is good though because the IDIOT lights come on and all the accesories work when i put the ignition switch to on, but that doesnt mean theres enough juice. i got my multymeter working so some time this week ill start pokin around.

 

check on the battery first. maybe bring it to autozone to have it tested.
the idiot lights only need a bit of joice (very low low amps). This will work with nearly every ****ty but not completely dead battery. Only when you start the engine and the starter pulls several amps from your battery, only then you will see what your battery is really worth ...

 

1 very quick way to see if the battery is really good is to pull on the headlights and crank the car. If the battery/connections are good, the lights will not go out during cranking. it's that simple.

 

it would be a good test if i can get my engine to crank

 

You kinda missed the point Se4mus, what it doesn't do can be just as important as what it does do. By that I mean, if there is no crank and the headlights go out, its definitely a supply issue - battery or cables.

If the lights stay on it's a control issue and it could be the ign switch, NSS, starter relay or associated wiring circuits.

 

Now to go further, take a screw driver and place it accross the stater relay from the batt side of the relay to the "S" post (post closest to the battery) You can take the wire off . if the engine cranks, you've proven that the battery thru the starter is ok and its an control circuit issue.
Now get a test light from an A-parts store and have someone hold the ign sw to start. check that wire you took off of the relay "S" terminal for power ( light should light with the key in the start pos'n.
If not go to the fire wall and unplug the NSS connection check for power there, if there jumper around the switch connector to the other side and go back to the relay "S" terminal wire and there should be power ther now. if so plug it back on and try to crank the the car.

If it doesn't crank its in the battery, cables, relay or starter.

 

It's still a good test if the lights will come on. In daytime it might take two people to do the test.

If the lights come on, watch them while the key is turned to the start position. If the lights then DIM, the battery is not charged or is bad. This basically is telling you that there is not enough battery charge to run the lights AND the starter.

If there is no change in light brightness, then the problem is in the starter circuit somewhere.

 

the lights are good when I turn it to start, and i can turn them on and off. My old battery was the Die Hard from sears that was recalled for basically exploding so it was possible that the harness underneath and on top of the battery was bad, so I did MBDiagMan's tests and I got a high voltage when i tested that wire so im pretty sure its that. I got a hold of one and tried to put it in yesterday but i cant figure it out. its the fire wall to headlamp feed that connects to the selenoid, regulator and aleternator, and i got those parts hooked up, the problem is that theh also feed down into the headlamp bucket and i cant figure out were to connect them, or how to get there to connect them. any tips?