MG Car Repair: inoperable light, fuse box, electrical meter

Question
hi,all lights in my 1974 mgb do not work.I just bought this car about a week ago with intentions of restoring it to its former glory. while picking it up the battery needed a jump so we hooked up jumpers an we got smoke from the engine compartment when we tried to start it we asked the former owner if he had hooked up the cables wrong when he moved the battery, he said he hooked the red cable to the negative an the black to the positive hence the smoke under the hood. I spliced back the hot wire to the alternator that was burned and it started,but I have no lights except dash light and I found one set of 4 fuses under the hood and they look ok is there another fuse box elsewhere? Can you help me please? thanks

Answer
Hi -
No there is no other fuse box (unless one was added by the goofy former owner!) I would check the alternator to see if it is indeed, putting out a charge. If not start there. If all of the lights don't work then also look at the light switch itself.  Check the bulbs for continuity also to see if they burnt out. The electrical ground connections from the wiring harness are sometimes dirty and those can be a problem, but it the wiring was fried, then you'll need to really closely inspect all the wiring you can see/find to see what else beside the alternator wire was fried. Not good news I know, but you can fix it. The car should be negative ground, meaning the neg battery terminal goes to the ground/chassis. Earlier MGs were often positive ground. Remember the wires themselves rarely fail (unless fried) - connection points do fail with dirt and corrosion.You need a cheap electrical meter (under $10 from Harbor Freight) to do any electrical troubleshooting - if you don't already have one. The "ohm" setting can be used to check for continuity/shorts.