Triumph Repair: Spit Not Starting, starter electrical troubleshooting cranking

Question
Hi Scott,
My Spit won't start.  It last ran about two weeks ago with no problems.  
Here's the issue:
When I turn the key, I get nothing.  I don't hear even hear the tick which is symptomatic of a dead battery.  There is lots of juice in the battery.  The lights, horn and radio work, and I threw it on the charger for a while just to be sure.
I did wash the engine on the day I last used it.  I suspect the water and or engine dressing did something somewhere in the ignition system.  Where should I start?  I jiggled all of the wires around to no avail.

1977 Triumph Spitfire 1500 (Canada).

Thanks for your help,
Shesh

Answer
Start with the entire starter circuit.   You either have a stock starter, or one of the fancy gear reduction starters.

Battery:
-A battery without enough juice for the starter can still make the lights work.  Check the voltage on the battery to make sure it is +12 or higher.  Anything below 11.5 may be an issue.

Starter:
-Stock: Find the separate starter relay, and jumper +12 & GND to it, to make sure you can make it "click".  If it clicks & cranks the engine, then trace the +12 wire from the relay to the ignition switch, as it may be loose  or not connected.  Put a volt meter on that wire, and see if you get +12 when you turn the ignition to the "start" momentary position.

-If you can make the relay "click", but the starter doesn't turn, then do the above, but also trace the thick +12 wire from the starter to the relay, and make sure the relay is getting +12V all the time for the starter.

-If a gear reduction starter, see if the small wire to the starter (from the ignition switch) is connected; they can be loose very often.

"drowning" the motor usually causes problem with the spark plug/distributor/coil/points, not the starter.  First step is to find out why the starter doesn't crank; the problem may be with the ignition circuit no longer getting +12 to energize the starter components.