My dad bought an 86 Trans Am a little over a year ago. The previous owner claimed he had the car since he was 16, now he's in his 30's somewhere/ The car has a 5spd, t-tops, and power windows and locks. The PO swapped the original 305 (not sure if it wouldve been a carbed motor or throttle body) and put in a late 70's 350 from a corvette. The motor has work done to it and makes plentyy of power lol He wired in an electric cooling fan, and a push button starter switch. Since we bought it, it has been a problem to start. Youd turn the key on, hit the button several times and the starter would just click before eventually turning over. So i changed the starter, but it still does the same thing. So my dad drove it one day and it ended up overheating in traffic and i changed the head gaskets. and now the car cranks very very slowly even when jumped. So we got another starter, just havent had a chance to put it in yet. But id like to know how many wires are actually supposed to connect to the starter? I dont think its hooked up right. Battery was replaced after we bought the car.

 

Does it have headers, sometimes with a factory starter the heat from the headers will cook the starter fast. I went through 3 before I figured that I either needed to wrap the starter or get a different starter, (high performance)

 

yeah it does have headers. we just changed the starter though like a few months ago and the car is barely used. i have heard that though too. but after changin it, a friend said the starter was bad so we put a new one in it for the second time and now all it does it click, even with the battery starter/charger hooked up to it. and the cars never been run since puttin on this new starter the other day.

 

You need a high torque starter. You should also check your battery ground and positive terminals at battery and where they connect. Clean them throughly. Also check to see if they are getting hot some cables are badly made and have high resistance.

 

you think thatd do it? and i hooked it up with jumper cables and tried cranknin it over, but it cranked over reallyyyy slow. like barely enough to turn the motor. and the negative cable was gettin very hot so i disconnected it from being grounded to where the alternator bolts to the block, and just bolted it onto the fender instead but it didnt make a difference. thats where i thought the PO had the starter hooked up wrong, so i thought maybe it was over drawing itself. idk though.

 

Don't invest in a high torque starter yet. Inspect the hot and ground wires from the battery, to the starter, and also from the starter to the alternator. I don't know as much about the firebirds, but there is an exciter wire that sends a signal to the alternator activating a charge. What it sounds like is happening, is either one of two things. The first thing that came to mind was your timing could be off. No big deal. The other though is, the wiring on these f bodies suck. Replace the power wire from the battery to the starter. Do not use a cheap wire and do not use a wire of a smaller gauge. This cable can corrode creating resistance.

 

I also forgot to mention your ground. If you want to connect it to the intake or back of the head is a fine place. The bracket for your alternator is either metal or aluminum, either conduct electricity and create a ground, either location you listed work well. Where are you getting your starter? Autozone starters are just weird, just like alternators from there. Half the time they do not work like they should.

 

Well the PO put a new starter in it, i think it was a reman though. so we got one from advance, i get almost all of my parts for anything from there. these starters were also remans though. I guess ill check over the wiriing like you said, and if all looks well, maybe replace it anyway. start with the cheapest parts first i guess lol How many wires should got to the starter though??

 

Figured it out! my sisters bf did the starter and never connected the purple wire from the ignition switch to the starter. oh the things you learn on the internet lol so i got it to crank, buttttttt now the ground strap that bolts to the firewall gets very hot when the car is cranked. After puttin new head gaskets on the car, i bolted the ground strap to the Edelbrock manifold. so since it got hot, i figured id move it the backside of the passenger side head. and it still gets hot, no difference. so where do i go from here now?

 

BUMP!
Ok, ive been researchin a bit and narrowed it down to a) the starter wire is bad from the battery or b) the connectors are dirty or loose. So i cleaned the terminals at the starter and tightened them back up. then cranked it and the ground strap wasnt hot, becauseeeee the end of it either broke or burnt off at the terminal attached to the block. im pretty stumped here. i think im gonna have to try changing that ground strap, and then the positive battery cable as well.

Now, at the starter, to make sure its hooked up right, we have the one thick black wire from the positive terminal on the battery to the main on the starter, along with two red wires. the R terminal has nothing hooked to it, and the S terminal has one purple wire and one red wire hooked to it. theres also a wire running down in the location of the starter that is green with a black stripe on it that looks like it has been cut and does not connect anywhere.
Anybody have ideas, suggestions, answers, past experiences, etc. anything??
Thanks in advance!!