Well I swapped a 305 instead of a 350 I blew in my Firebird. Everything bolted up good, everything went according to plan. Well I hooked everything back up and now I have 2 problems:

1) The starter doesn't work. I turn the key and nothing. The car is a non-CC carb now. I checked the fuses they are good. Grounds are all good, the rest of the electric system works. So any suggestions at all on what could be the problem? (BTW There are no wires going to the starter, only a metal rod from the coil, is is suppossed to be like that?)

2) I have a small leak on the bottom of the timing cover. I can seal it up with silicone, but will it hold when I run the engine and there is pressure inside? Better off changing the gasket?

Well thanks for the help, and if you ahve any iodeas, please help me out, its summer and I want my ride back

-Max

 

the started should be wired and if you have a oil leak with an engine that's never ran it won't get any better

 

I don't know if your car was fuel injected before but if it was... There's a "starter enable relay" in the driver kick panel ... If the VATS is no longer in use it will require to be bypass. One wire will have to be grounded to be chassis or the relay will have to be removed.

 

There should be at least three red wires and one purple wire(also known as fusible links) going to the back of the starter. The starter is normally the location of the main power relay from the battery. If they're not connected nothing in the car will work.

 

Well the leak I'm talking about is from the bottom of the timing cover and its a coolant leak not an oil one. Also the engine ran until I started parting the car (bout 5-6 months ago)

The car I'm putting the enigine into was carbed but the engine I'm putting in was a TPI before (has a non-CC carb now). Everything else in the car works except the starter. Also the motor is an 86 TPI, so it didn't have VATS.

There are no wires going to the starter but there are 3 wires and the battery positive going to the little canister right above the starter (isn't this the remote coil?) 2 wires and the battery positive are attached to the big post on the coil, and one thin wire is going to the little post. As far as I can see the only thing connecting the starter to the car is the metal rod going from the coil to it.

I don't know if that made any sense but if anybody knows what the hell I'm talking about please help me out.

Thanks,
-Max

 

the coil you are refering to is the starter solenoid. it engages the starter motor to start your car. there should be the pos battery cable and atleast 2 or maybe 3 wires on the big stud- this supplies power to your car. there also should be 1 wire on the stud marked "S" , if i'm wrong somebody correct me,this wire engages the solenoid. you should have battery volts at the big stud and 12 volts at s when you turn the key

 

I think my problem lies with the little stud on the solenoid. There are two little studs on the solenoid, one to either side of the big stud. Now which one do I need? The one closer to the engine or the one farther away?.

Thanks,
-Max

 

the little purple wire should go to the stud with an marked with an "s" by it, on my starter it's the one closest to the engine block.

 

Well I did a little checking with the tester. Turns out my battery is only putting out 8.5V. That is the voltage at the solenoid too. When I try to start it, the voltage drops to 7.5V on the big stud (with the 3 wires attached) and down to 5.5 on the little stud marked "S". I'm guessing that is the problem, so I'm going to get my battery charged today, or am I wasting my time and 7.5 volts is enough to engage the starter?

BTW I connected all the wires up to a differnt solenoid and starter that I know for a fact works and same thing happened, so I know my problem is in the electrics.

Thanks for the time guys,
-Max