Yuck....an electrical question

[don t. - 72gmc]

I am electrically challenged, please bear w/me. I'll try to make this as short and as descriptive as possible! Hope it makes sense!!

Running new 12 ga. wire to HEI batt post, no problem. The old wire came off a keyed hot from the fire wall. This hot was spliced, 1 going to HEI batt, other going to 'R' post on starter selenoid. This starter wire was older/hard, figured I'd replace. Also checked wire going to 'S' post on sel. This one was worse, missing insul. & bad splice near post. Followed this one up to firewall plug on left side. Except for the new HEI batt wire, I'll splice/solder the sel. wires from good material by firewall, s/b no big deal.

Question 1=>Unable to really tell by the service manual what the 'R' and 'S' post on sel. really mean/where they should connect.

Question 2=>I didn't have electrical problems b/4 I noticed the really bad 'S' wire. Anything I should worry about? should check "while im there"?

Thanks inadvance.....don t. .....

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It aint gonna be a trailer queen, its gotta work, just like me.
3/4 ton,350 w/HEI, 79 q-jet, th400.

[Gee_Emm]

Run and start is my guess

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1969 Chevrolet Custom Camper 20 350/400 70k original miles, 99% rust free

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Gee_Emm's Page

Vote for my truck to be on the label of a bottle of Jones Soda!!!

[REPO1]

When you ran the new wire from the firewall to the HEI, you say you spliced this wire and ran another wire off of it to the starter? If so, you don't need that wire anymore. Just a wire from keyed hot directly to the HEI. That wire that originally went from the starter to the coil, is just to bypass the resistance wire while cranking. Now that the resistance wire is gone, you can discard that wire.


Reid

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Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada

1970 Chevy C20 Custom Camper
402BB Turbo 400 trans.
A/C, P/S, manual brakes.
75,800 Original Miles!!
'71 Camaro SS 402/T400 resto
'97 Z28 -- Runs 11.5 @ 118mph.

[don t. - 72gmc]

No, Im sorry, the before wiring had a keyed hot from firewall, spliced, one to HEI, the other to starter 'R' post.

Im gonna run a new wire from fuse box to HEI, one shot.
The 'R' post and 'S' post wires, I will splice into original wiring, replacing the part closest to the starter.

Sorry for the confusion.

[REPO1]

Ok, I see now. But you should only have 1 small wire going to the starter. The purple, (I think) that is used to actually crank the starter. Of course the large battery wire too. The second wire isn't used any more.

[don t. - 72gmc]

Yes, purple. Strange though, from the firewall it starts off red, blends into purple and back to red. Then comes the bad parts. This is the one going to the 'S' post.

If I understand, I do not need the 'R' post wire?

Thanks much....don t. ...

[REPO1]

Just to make sure, where is that R wire going right now, if you don't have a points style dist. now.

It shouldn't be going to anything right?

[don t. - 72gmc]

'R' post is comming from the keyed hot,the spliced wire, other side of splice goes to HEI bat. Before I tore it appart, both ends on splice had 11 volts.

'S' post is the purple/red wire comming from firewall. Not same wire as 'R' post. This wire had big chunks of insulation missing. I did not check volts b/4 I tore into it. Initial inspection seemed ok. Once I got under truck is when I noticed it was bad. Don't know what or if voltage was present. Just thought w/the missing insulation, should be replaced.


I was gonna just splice replacement wires, and running em like nothing ever happened. I figured it worked before, replace the bad parts, it should work again.

Thanks for your time/patience. I do appreciate it. ...don t. ...


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It aint gonna be a trailer queen, its gotta work, just like me.
3/4 ton,350 w/HEI, 79 q-jet, th400.

[REPO1]

Ok then, you won't need the R post wire anymore. Just the purple/red wire to engage the solenoid to crank.

Just run a new wire from keyed hot on the fuse box directly to the HEI.

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Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada

1970 Chevy C20 Custom Camper
402BB Turbo 400 trans.
A/C, P/S, manual brakes.
75,800 Original Miles!!
'71 Camaro SS 402/T400 resto
'97 Z28 -- Runs 11.5 @ 118mph.

[Duallie]

You don't need the "R" wire (yellow) anymore. It was used to give a full 12 volts to the coil while cranking. Then, after the engine started, the yellow wire would be turned off and the coil would be powered through the ballast resistor, which would knock off 3 volts or so to make the points live longer. The HEI gets a full 12 volts all of the time the engine is running. The old yellow wire can be cut off and eliminated.

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Just as if I knew what I was doin'