Currently I'm in the process of finishing up a d16z6 replacement in my garage and when I was putting the wires all back together and I connected both terminals on the battery the radiator fan turned on for a few seconds and then I saw smoke come up from the engine bay.

I looked at one of the grounds (chassis to transmission) and saw some smoke coming up from it so I assumed it was just all from the ground. Turns out when I connected the battery I blew the main 80A battery fuse. I replaced that and now my car wont start. I'm at a complete loss of what to do there is no power to anything in the car and the car wont crank. It's basically just a rolling shell right now

Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be? I'm willing to try just about anything at this point.

 

Well since you blew a fuse, i wouldn't suspect you burned up a wire somewhere, which is good.
-Check all grounds to see if they are OK. Replace the ones that look crappy.
-Test the battery to see if it's OK.
-Then check to see if you have 12v to your starter.
-Check to see if you blew another fuse or relay somewhere else
-Check to see if you have power to your ECU.

Hope this helped!

 

Okay, I replaced the transmission to chassis ground, and I think my battery is ok. How do you test the 12V to starter and check for power to the ecu? I know I need to use a multi meter and I've got one, but where do I stick the leads?

 

Just because a fuse blows, [especially one as big as 80A] does not mean wiring is not burnt, the smoke by itself indicates something did burn, a blown fuse indicates a dead short, a poor ground will not blow a fuse unless it is a smaller fuse on a common circuit with bigger fuses, other loads "seeking" grounds through too small a fuse.

This is your main fuse so the short must be before all the other fuses, possibly a bad ELD, shorted out alt. 94

 

Sounds like you connected the battery backwards.