So I am having issues starting my 68 Buick Skylark. I changed the starter on it a while back, as the old one wasn't working. Im getting power to the starter, and it WAS turning over, but very very very slow. I thought maybe the battery so I replaced that, nothing. The starter isn't turning at all at this point. I pulled it and did a bench test with a battery, and cables jumping the big post to the S and nothing. I just picked up another rebuilt stock starter and am trying to figure out what I should do with the R post? There was a yellow wire that was attached to it, but after replacing the points and coil with the HEI (coil in cap), do I just cap the yellow wire and not hook it up to anything? Also is there anything else i could be missing? Thanks! Travis
Yes, the ignition switch seems to be fine, hooked up correctly, and power is getting to the starter when key it turned as it should. I haven't installed the new starter, working on putting it in tomorrow. Any idea if I can just tape up that yellow wire, and leave it off the R post? Could that have been the problem (why the starter was turning so slow?) Will have more information tomorrow. Hopefully it was just a "never worked" starter. Just seems odd to me that the starter WAS turning the motor, now its not.
I'm not clear as to why you would leave the yellow wire off. Also, what is the condition of the battery cables?
Thats what i'm asking about. I thought It would make sense to leave it off the R terminal, since I am no longer running the points system, and I dont know that the yellow wire connects to anything at the other end? The way I understand it, is the yellow wire is meant to bypass the extra volts to the old points system to prevent the points from burning out. I have a HEI distributor with the coil built into the cap. The yellow wire used to go from the R terminal, to the + on the coil. But i no longer have the coil. Battery cables are in good shape. Sorry, i'm beyond green in electrical wiring.
Can you post a picture or two of what you have going on at the battery and the starter area? Have you checked the ground cable to block connection? I have seen cables that look to be in good condition have corrosion up inside the insulation.
I don't think I was clear in my original post. The starter was BAD on the car after taking it out and testing it. The motor in the starter is froze and wont spin. I bought a new starter and will be installing tomorrow... The yellow wire was previously hooked up from the R terminal on the starter, to the + side of the Coil I now no longer have the coil since i pulled it with the old points ignition. I now have the HEI distributor.. So the yellow wire isn't hooked to anything up top. Thats what im trying to understand. I believe the car will start with the new starter, and of course Im going to double check the cables. Also the yellow wire is actually spliced into a pink wire that was attached to the +on the coil. So technically its a pink wire not hooked up top. Hopefully that helps clear anything up.
Yes, you can tape of the yellow wire, it's a bypass for the resistor wire built into the harness for points ignition. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?t...ystem-function-tests-and-modification.248990/ To run the Big cap GM HEI distributor, you must replace the resistance wire in the harness. See the linked thread above.
NO you don't need to replace the resistance wire.......What you do is run a relay use the resistance wire to trigger the relay..... https://documents.holley.com/frm33565_ready_to_run_add.pdf
Either ways above is fine. pulling the original wire can be a pain IMO. Also, I would test fire the new starter with jumper cables form the battery before bolting it up. Just make sure the solenoid is clicking over, the motor is spinning, and the bendix gear is moving back and forth.
Year One sells this plug and play wire for converting to HEI. To me this is the cleaner way to do things. Unbolt the front harness connector, pull the resistance wire/coil+feed, and plug this one in. Done. Others may disagree and that is fine. https://www.yearone.com/Product/PartSearchResult/L00510
Ok… so I got the car running, and timed (8*) with the new HEI distributor, but the car hesitates and Boggs quite a bit. We played around with the timing from 0-12 degrees but can’t seem to get it right. We also used a vacuum gauge on the new 1406 4bbl to adjust the air/fuel screws. And it seems to be within normal limits… I have bran new wires, and plugs. Have spark, good spark.. To me the car seems to be running rich, or it almost seems like the car is misfiring. We triple checked the firing order and plug wires… nothings changed. Could it be my distributor? I have a 12g wire from the ignition peg through the firewall and onto the +battery of the HEI. The car does fire right up, and idles great. I have a cheap plug and play HEI distributer. Im wondering if that’s the culprit.
Did you verify that the wire to the distributor is supplying full battery voltage when it's running? Check battery voltage across the posts, then pull the power wire to the coil and check voltage from that wire to ground. (key in "RUN" position) You may have high resistance from the source of that 12 AWG wire.
I will double check that. Thank you. I have one of those cheap big coil in cap HEI distributor that is a pain to fit with the bigger intake manifold. I have a feeling distributor is bad. I intend on replacing with an MSD small cap. Does anyone know about the Ready To Run MSD (part# 8552) will work for the 350? Or do I need to purchase the pro billet MSD with an external box?
The 8552 is for the 400-430-455. It has the big block gear on it. Just buy the TA Performance ready to run distributor, plug and play. It's an MSD type. No box required. http://taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_724B You don't even need to change your ignition wires. The cap uses the same wires as the GM big cap HEI that you have.