Help: Wiring newer starter

[Kenfuzed]

I am trying to figure out the wiring on this new starter. This actually came up because I was helping someone else identify their wiring harness when I realized that my starter wiring setup is missing something.

This mini High Torque starter was supplied by my engine builder but it has one less terminal than my original starter (no "R"). The instructions from Hitachi say to connect the battery cable to the B terminal (obvious) and the ignition wire (purple I assume) to the spade terminal. This leaves the remaining wires that were formerly attached to the "R" terminal on my old engine/starter.

Old starter solenoid wiring shows the "R" terminal (white/green/black wires) on the far left:


New solenoid pictured below. It only has the B terminal and S terminal.

[markeb01]

I've never seen this before, but if you Google "Hitachi Starter Wiring", there are numerous responses on different forums and several Google Images of wiring diagrams that may help out.

[Kenfuzed]

Originally Posted by markeb01

I've never seen this before, but if you Google "Hitachi Starter Wiring", there are numerous responses on different forums and several Google Images of wiring diagrams that may help out.

Right, I've been googling all morning and everything I find says that the former "R" terminal was only a resistor terminal that is on during cranking for points ignitions. Mine is HEI but nothing tells me what to do with these other 3 wires attached to the former "R" terminal. I'm thinking that perhaps the PO used it as a junction. I'm trying to avoid tearing apart the whole harness to figure out what wire goes where.

[Kenfuzed]

Well I just stripped back all the tape and insulation to reveal all the wire colors and routes.

There are 2 wires that go to the old "R" terminal; 1) white w/purple and yellow stripes that leads to the harness connector at the firewall, and 2) a green wire that leads to a relay mounted just under the battery box. Both of these wires are paired together with a ring connector to go onto the former "R". Now I just need to figure out what the white wire goes to under the dash. I'm assuming this circuit is meant to be energized when in the run position so perhaps I don't need it connected to the starter at all, just have the white and green remain connected.

Hmm, the search continues.

[jtrichard]

the "R" terminal is ONLY energized while cranking and WAS to bypass the resistor to the coil for"HOT" start (double the voltage = more spark for cranking) now that you have HEI there is NO need for that wire..... OEM only had the one wire to the "R" terminal who knows what that other crap is for ... just hook the purple wire to the small screw lug and the batt cable to the bigger terminal (the one without the strap to the starter motor) and call it a day

[Kenfuzed]

Update (sorry just talking this through but maybe it will help someone else).

The white/stripe wire from the old "R" goes to a pink wire from the dash harness.
The Green wire (joined with the above white/stripe @ "R") goes to a relay.
The relay appears to have been installed to connect the HEI distributor and supply power when the ignition is in the run/start position.

So with the ignition off the green wire is grounded through the relay (verified by my ohm meter). The way I read the relay is that when this green wire is energized it closes the relay switch which sends 12v from the battery to the distributor.

The pictured relay is wired as follows:
#85 = Ground, white wire shown that is connected to negative battery post.
#86 = Green wire, joined with the white striped and pink wire from dash harness.
#87 = 12v black wire from + battery post
#30 = Distributor, red wire whown.

So if I have this correct in my head, energizing #86 closes the contacts between #87 and #30 sending 12v to the distributor. The pink wire from the dash that is joined with that green wire must be the signal from the ignition switch.

The question remains, does this all hinge on the existence of "R" being energized or is it completely unnecessary in this scenario?

[chopper john]

X2 jtrichard

[Kenfuzed]

Originally Posted by jtrichard

the "R" terminal is ONLY energized while cranking and WAS to bypass the resistor to the coil for"HOT" start (double the voltage = more spark for cranking) now that you have HEI there is NO need for that wire..... OEM only had the one wire to the "R" terminal who knows what that other crap is for ... just hook the purple wire to the small screw lug and the batt cable to the bigger terminal (the one without the strap to the starter motor) and call it a day

Right, but it appears that the distributor wire is using the wires going through the relay pictured above. I think the PO only had everything on that "R" as a junction.

[jtrichard]

all you need to the HEI is the ignition wire that runs from the key switch to the resistor (originally) now run to HEI

[mafosa]

hope that's not the relay your going to use.

[Kenfuzed]

Originally Posted by mafosa

hope that's not the relay your going to use.

That is the relay that was already being used with the previous engine which also had an HEI upgrade. Worked perfectly without any issue. I found that others have been using the same for HEI upgrades on Novas (more about that later).

[Kenfuzed]

I continued to research and found the relay I have was actually quite common with those redoing ignitions in early jeeps, novas, etc. It delivers power directly from the battery to the HEI instead of depending on the smaller wire (pink) or resistor wire (white w/stripes) coming from the ignition switch. Even if running a new wire back to the ignition switch this wire needs to be 10ga, so this relay eliminates that requirement.

I know many have used the simpler method of a direct wire from the ignition switch without the added complexity but I think I'll stick with the relay. It worked well with the previous engine configuration and allows me to use the existing harness.

Here is the relay diagram from the nova site.

[Kenfuzed]

BTW, the issue with the wiring to the started is solved, the former wiring to an "R" terminal isn't needed.