Re: Electrical Questions

[Darrel Kline <darrelk@domain.elided>]

Ken wrote:

>Well, if I am going to replace my starter, is anyone familiar with one of 
>the newer light-weight starters that will work in an IH?  That, and a
>remote
>solenoid sound like a good combo.

I know there's a lot of different mini-starters out there for the ch*vy
engines; which won't bolt to the IH engines.  I'm not sure if any of the
aftermarket mini-starters have the IH bolt pattern, anyone know? I've seen
prices from $100 - $300 for the different brands, which I could never
justify because you can get yours rebuilt for something less.

>Darrel wrote:
>> the F*rd solenoid setup is fool-proof. It's just too hard to keep the
>> voltage drop to a reasonable level with the factory switch and wiring.
>Voltage drop?  I was planning on doing this to keep it cool.  Are these
>two items related?
>
>Thanks again,
>
>Ken Farmer

First,
Be sure to check that the battery cable has a good connection at the
starter. Tightening up that nut fixed a "hot start" problem I had once.

Yes,
These two problems are related. When the starter gets excessively hot the
solenoid won't engage because of a lack of juice from the factory wiring.
The f*rd remote solenoid setup supplies the starter solenoid with juice
directly from the battery. Another nice benefit is that with a little
rewiring you can have just the large battery cable running down to the
starter...which gets those small wires away from the headers and makes it a
lot easier to change out the starter. Like Steve S. said your starter is
very possibly marginal, but even brand new *factory* starters have problems
if the headers are close (did Ken mention the fact that he has headers?).

I kept the factory heat shield when I put my headers on (chromed ORD's),
but it still gets a lot of heat from the side. I haven't had any hot start
problems so far with my cheapie Kragen starter, but all the small wires are
cracking from the heat.

BTW: You can get down there with a screwdriver and crank the engine over if
you can't wait for it to cool off. Be careful not to weld your screwdriver
to the headers. :-)

Darrel Kline
Colorado Springs