[cobrabuilderI]

Anytime you got a wire "hanging in thin air" is not good. I have a Painless wire harness that uses a relay that runs a hot battery connection like you just described and then 2 wires that make up the swich- either to ignition or manual switch (that's what I did) . When you wired it directly, was the switch on? I suppose it was- but in any event, see if you have a relay somewhere that those wires run to. And for the love of all that is good somehow bolt that block to the fire wall. All that vibration will work whatever you put up there! Painless used all bolted connections even on the relay blocks. Don't know if this helps, but I'll throw it out there.