Basically swapped engines, so wiring harness was completely disconnected, just finished everything went to crank engine, and starter clicked and sparked at the solenoid, I have the + batt cable connected to it, which I am sure goes to it, then on the same terminal I have another connector with two wires on it going onto it, one of them is broken/cut, so I spliced it back together, then had the 3rd small switch wire hooked up to the other terminal, and the bottom terminal connecting the starter to solenoid wire.

Need some help figuring out wth is wrong here, pics of wires going to the starter would also be great, and I wouldn't think it would matter but the starter on it atm is from a 3.4.

 

All of the orange wires go onto the positive battery terminal on the starter. There is only one other terminal useable down there and that is where the purple wire goes (on the RIGHT side, not the left). The orange wires go onto the battery terminal first and then the battery cable on top of them. Sounds as though you may need to replace a fusible link down there (broken wire). And, with 600A going through the starter, everything MUST be tight or current will be lost and nothing will work (sparking followed by nothing in the car working until everything cools down enough to allow current to flow again).

 

Hooked it up just like you said, it cranked on first try, and i have juice to the electrical system, but tried twice more and it sparked, seemed to come from bottom right area, the wire going from starter to solenoid is not fully insulated and partially exposed, does that matter? And the wire I spliced I moved off to the other side, spark is coming from exact same spot as before so I know it isn't coming off the wire I spliced...any idea why its sparking?? Also can you tell me what exactly a fusible link is??

 

That wire running out of the starter motor to the solenoid is supposed to be almost bare. If it's sparking, chances are that maybe the rubber insulator between it and the housing is damaged or missing. Try spacing it away from the slot in the housing a bit and see what happens.

A fusible link is just like a fuse in the fuse panel. If there is an overcurrent situation that creates heat in whatever wire it's supposed to protect, the link is designed to blow before the wire or whatever device the wire is attached to does instead. It's generally 4 wire sizes smaller than the circuit wiring it's designed to protect, and it's only repaired by replacing it with another link. Every one of those power feed wires, either by the starter or in the junction block by your battery, has a 30A fusible link on it. You can get a package of fusible link wire at NAPA or one of those places, about 30' or however much for about $10.

 

Would the fusible link be noticeably damaged if it blew out? Cause it looks fine, but between that and the tip of the wire its broke or was cut, really not sure which, think I'll try the other starter that was in the 2.8...it may look rough as hell, but that thing has cranked a helluva lot(when my 2.8 kept stalling right after startup, must have cranked that thing a 100x...) without a hitch.

 

Well, the thing is, that black thing on the wire there is actually the end of the fusible link that connects it to the power wire. The link generally starts at the terminal and ends at that black thing. So, chances are, something either killed or cut the fusible link at some point.

Switching the battery cables may or may not help, but do make sure that the starter motor power wire isn't touching the the starter housing and that the starter mount on the engine block is clean (starter motor grounds through its housing which is why the negative batt cable is actually bolted to the engine block).

 

Put in the 2.8 one not a problem in the world...either my car didn't like the 3.4 one or more likely I found after I just removed it that the wire going from s motor to solenoid wasn't tightened down all the way...remind me not to ask anyone to help by bolting things down anymore...going to get the thing tested just to be sure, would like to keep it as a spare.