starter problems?!?

[xtreme6mwm]

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me,here goes;
We installed a fresh motor in the car(73 455 in a 71 GS)and it won't start,it almost did a couple of times,but no dice.It turns over real slow like the battery is dead,so we got a new one,and even used the battery charger as a back up,still not. Took off the original starter and replaced it with 2 different new ones and still no go except now when i let go of the key,the starter tries to keep going and have to disconnect the battery to get it to stop.Is it normal to have 4 small wires going to the starter? I can't figure what 2 of them are for.I'm open to any suggestions

[LARRY70GS]

Mike,
Sounds like you have some wires reversed. There are a total of 5 wires going to the starter solenoid including the + battery cable. There are brown and black wires along with the positive battery cable that are attached to the big stud on the solenoid(hard to get that wrong) There are also yellow and purple wires. The yellow wire goes to the left connection (looking from the front of the starter) marked "R" on the solenoid. The purple wire goes to the right connection marked "S". You may have these 2 reversed. The "R" wire is used with points, if you are running an electronic ignition, chances are you don't need it. Make sure the purple is on the right connector. Hope that helps.

[Ken Warner]

Sure seems like lots of people build a tight fresh engine then re-use that 30 year old battery cable... Or even worse put one of those universal ends on... If you haven't allready I'd see about replacing both cables and making sure you have at least 1 good grounding strap from the engine to the body/chassis

regards

[xtreme6mwm]

We did replace both battery cables and ground strap with new ones,not the universal's. I'm pretty sure that's how it's wired but i'll double check,..thanks

[65specialconver]

check out my post in the "vendor"section...mini starters.parts house starters suck!!!:af:

[brblx]

there's a wire going to the other small terminal on the starter?

i just have the battery cable on the biggest terminal and then i believe three wires to the smaller one on the solenoid. no problems.:Do No: