im doing the remote style setup for my starter and have ran into a problem.. on my factory wiring harness, i have the main power wire which goes to the big terminal, and i also have 2 small wires with eyelet screws on them. what is the other wire for? i know one is for the ignition but have no idea what the others for. how would i wire it up to my selenoid on the firewall?

"my setup is an 84 camaro 350 carbed car. i have battery in the trunk, with kill switch wire up to the one side of the selonoid, and the other side going to the starter. wheres the 2 little wires go?"

 

Are you talking about the two small connections in the front of the selonid. The reason I ask because I have a ford selond in my 84 camaro also. I have it connected to a toggle switch to start the starter. If you would like I will check out my car set up and let you know tomorrow since currently I am away from my camaro

 

no im talking about the actual starter wires i have one thick pink/red and a tiny pink/red wire that attach to the starter from the harness. i dont kno where to put them on the selonoid

 

Any wires that were on the same terminal on the starter as the (old ) main battery feed go on the battery side terminal on the Ford solenoid ; so they are always live.
If you put them on the starter side you car will most likely turn off when the engine start
If the small red came from another terminal on the starter then that is the feed to the coil while cranking

 

where would i put that small red wire then? i dont remeber how it was wired

 

Depends what it is for.
If it is the coil startup wire it would have to go on the starter side of solenoid so it is only live when the starter is cranking.
If it is a power feed for something it would have to go on the other side so it is aways live
Time to get a wiring diagram for your car

 

The solenoid is a relay. The two large terminals are not connected until the solenoid is 'excited' by a signal to the "S" terminal (the small one on the left). Energizing that terminal powers the coil inside, which electromagnetically closes the contacts, thus connecting the two large terminals. This results in power being sent to the starter. The starter side of the solenoid should only have a heavy cable on it going to the terminal on the starter. The battery side of the solenoid will have the + battery cable on it, as well as other wires used to provide unswitched battery power to other systems.

If there is a second 'small' (I) terminal on the solenoid, it is used to 'boost' the power to the ignition system while the starter is drawing heavily on the battery, thus ensuring a 'hot' spark and, in theory, a quick start. If you had this wire on your original starter solenoid, then connect that wire to the "I" terminal. The eyelet holes on these wires are often slightly different, to avoid confusion. If you arent' sure which is which, connect a test light in between the eyelet on the wire and a good ground. (The battery cable and other large-eyelet wires must be connected to the battery side of the solenoid for this to work) Have a helper turn the ignition key to the START position. If the test light illuminates, then that is the "S" wire. The other small-eyelet wire will be the "I" wire. If there is no second wire, then the only small wire is the "S" wire.

 

sounds good. it was connected to the "R" side of starter so that would mean that i connect it to the "i" terminal for the coil spark on startup?

 

Not sure what the "R" terminal is... but it occurs to me that you will still have to feed the "crank" signal to the starter-mounted solenoid (unless you have changed to a starter without integral solenoid). You could do that by installing a jumper from the large terminal to the "S" terminal on your starter-mounted solenoid.

It would help a lot for you to give a description of exactly what you did, and why.

 

ok i got some pictures of what im stuck with. im moved the battery to the rear for drag racing and ran the battery wire to the far left terminal. im just dont kno where to hook everything up to the selonoid.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...confusion.html i have them here and they wont let me post them here.

 

OK... you have to run a battery cable (with eyelets at both ends) from the far right side terminal to the heavy terminal on the original solenoid. From there, run a jumper wire to the "S" terminal on your original solenoid, or else your starter will not work. Any wires that were on the large terminal of the original solenoid must be attached to the far left terminal of your new solenoid.

Now you should have your two small wires from your original solenoid. The purple one goes to the "S" terminal of the new solenoid. It might look more red than purple due to age. The other wire does not appear in any of my diagrams, but since it came off the old solenoid it must be the "I" wire.

Here's what the circuit will do:

Turning the key sends 12V down the "S" wire to the new solenoid. This energizes the coil inside, closing the contacts between the two large terminals, and also sends 12V to the "I" terminal to boost spark.

With the large terminals connected, battery voltage is now being fed to the starter-mounted solenoid, which in turn is feeding power to the "S" terminal via the jumper that you installed. This excites the starter mounted solenoid, and the starter comes to life. When you release the key, power is interrupted to the starter because the large terminals of your new solenoid are now no longer connected. All systems requiring battery power are still being fed from the left side of your new solenoid. Make sense?

 

yes thank you. which side would i hook the alternator power wire to? the main battery one going to the selonoid right?

 

The main wire to the alternator goes to the battery side of the solenoid. This is the wire that feeds the charging current to the battery. Any other wires to/from the alternator will not be connected to the solenoid in any way.