Thread: Low-budget/T-Bucket Pickup

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Originally Posted by Driver50x

I did that as a little bit of a theft deterrent. An exposed small block Chevy is extremely easy to hot wire. At least now someone would have to crawl under the car and find the solenoid in order to hot wire it.

I was just curious and wondering if you were part of the crowd that thinks wiring a Ford solenoid in series with a GM solenoid fixes a starter heat soak issue. Yours is a more practical application.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

I was just curious and wondering if you were part of the crowd that thinks wiring a Ford solenoid in series with a GM solenoid fixes a starter heat soak issue. Yours is a more practical application.

I think most people that use the ford solenoid as a remote unit are doing so when they move their battery from stock so they don't have a large hot battery cable running from one end of the car to the other. Plus itsaves money and weight.


Driver50x, it is loking very nice! You have to be getting excited now!

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Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

I think most people that use the ford solenoid as a remote unit are doing so when they move their battery from stock so they don't have a large hot battery cable running from one end of the car to the other. Plus itsaves money and weight.
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I disagree. Putting a Ford solenoid in the circuit increases the total resistance which will ultimately increase the gauge of the positive cable. The larger the gauge the less resistance it will have as well as more current carrying capacity. As an example what was the size of the positive cable originally in your Vette?

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

I disagree. Putting a Ford solenoid in the circuit increases the total resistance which will ultimately increase the gauge of the positive cable. The larger the gauge the less resistance it will have as well as more current carrying capacity. As an example what was the size of the positive cable originally in your Vette?

How is it increasing resistance? You use the solenoid to send the voltage down the battery cable to the starter during cranking only so the cable isn't hot the entire time. I was joking about saving money and weight.

Although, this is a good safety feature irregardless.

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Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

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Driver50x, it is loking very nice! You have to be getting excited now!

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Thanks Ryan! It’s great to see some visible progress. I might fire up the engine pretty soon, just to make some noise, and help keep me motivated.

Originally Posted by Driver50x

I might fire up the engine pretty soon, just to make some noise, and help keep me motivated.

Definitely! That's one of those milestones that seems to make things all worth it.

I plan on also adding a hidden toggle switch between the ignition switch and switch and the solenoid.

I did a real easy theft switch, take a extra floor 3 way dimmer switch, mount it up high on the firewall behind the carpet, run the coil wire to the common, a led on one pole and off to the coil on the other, when you hop in and turn the key on and the led is lit, you reach up with your toe, bump the switch, led goes off and you drive away, simple cheap and they won't find it easily, I read it in a magazine years ago. Best of luck matt

That’s a good idea. Thanks

When I was racing stock cars we used a Ford solenoid so the positive cable in the front of the car was only energized when starting the car (as 40FordDeluxe said above). The reason was because in case of a crash, if the cable was pinched and grounded it could cause the battery to explode. Since the battery was right behind my seat I was avoiding the possibility of an acid bath. In the case of a hot rod (street rod), especially those with open engines, a hidden solenoid could be an added theft deterrent.

It's getting exciting now! We're at Gulf Shores a couple weeks ago, I thought about driving down and paying you a visit but St Petersburg is quite a jog from there.

Cool! Gulf Shores is a pretty neat area.

Just my 2 cents on the solenoid discussion.

“…..If the engineers at GM thought that by adding a Ford solenoid in series with a GM starter and solenoid would work better I'm sure they would have done so years ago……”

Ken as I recall at one time GM did sell remote solenoid kits for hot start issues over the parts counter……of course that was at least 20 years ago.

I run a Ford solenoid on a lot of the stuff I build especially GMs. The experience I’ve had with heat soak issues on GMs (especially Chevrolets from the 50s-70s) is that when it heat soaks you can still short across the battery lead and solenoid terminals at the starter and it will crank. This has always lead me to the belief that while a heat soaked solenoid (higher resistance to activate) is partially the problem the main issue is higher resistance in the wire that activates the solenoid.

I’ve tried running a heavier solenoid activation wire to the starter on a few occasions and only had mixed results. Using the remote solenoid has always eliminated any heat soak non-crank issues I’ve run into. When I wire the Ford style solenoid I run a busbar/heavy jumper wire between the Solenoid terminal and battery terminal on the starter and relocate the solenoid wire/charging wires and battery cable to the Ford solenoid. Basically when the remote solenoid is activated the solenoid on the starter will receive full voltage/amperage thru the busbar/jumper wire.

Of course there are a few other benefits. It makes a convenient place to hook up a remote starter switch when you need to crank the engine over, it eliminates having a live battery cable running down by the exhaust and you only have the battery cable to remove when you need to remove the starter.

Anyway like I said just my 2 cents.



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Originally Posted by DennyW

I know I sure have changed an awful lot of GM starters compared to just a few Ford's. Matter a fact, if it wasn't for GM, I wouldn't have much business in my shop I had.

I don’t know, I worked in an independent garage for a few years, and I remember Ford Escorts coming in on the wrecker nearly every day. 99% of the time they had either a broken timing belt or a bad ignition module. The worst part I remember about GM’s was constantly changing starters on Chevettes. What a miserable job. I haven’t touched a Chevette in about 20 years, and I hope I never see another one. lol

On the Ford solenoid thing, I “think” Mike P is on the right track. I think at least part of the problem was too much voltage drop along the ignition switch and the small starter wire. Chevy engineers did a lot of things right, but mounting the solenoid on the starter, and near the exhaust, was not one of their better ideas. Making valve covers with only four bolts in them was also not a brilliant idea.

" .........if it wasn't for GM, I wouldn't have much business in my shop I had......."



Come to think of it


Before Subaru came out with their Outback commercial Chevy trucks had one that used the same basic closing line...... something along the lines of:

"90% of Chevrolet trucks sold in the last decade are still on the road"

I had a friend who would grin every time that commercial came on........until one day when I said "well at least 10% were able to make it home"




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