This is a bit off topic, but I have an older full size Chevy that had all the wires that power the car connected to the starter solenoid (under the engine). While I have always preferred GM vehicles, I have always thought that Ford had a better system by having the solenoid on the firewall, rather than under the engine where all the road crud and stuff could get on the wires and corrode them.
Last summer my old Chevy decided to not start. I spent several hours messing with it, and it finally started, and ran fine for another month. Then, the same thing happened, and once again I fought with it, and again it finally started. A week later this happened again, and this time there was visible smoke pouring out from under the hood when I tried to start the car. At least this time I was able to locate the problem. One of those wires had shorted to the exhaust manifold. I pulled the starter, applied electrical tape, was sure to keep the wires away from the exhaust system, and thought the problem was solved.
Wrong. The other day the same thing happened, but this time nothing was touching the exhaust. Yesterday I removed the starter again, and this time I decided that these wires would no longer go under the car. I replaced all the wires that had bad insulation, replaced all the fusible links, and ran the whole harness directly to the battery. The only wires that remained going to the starter was the main battery cable, and the "START" (IGN) wire. All the other wires now go right to the battery. The problem I now have is how to connect it to the battery side terminal connector. At the moment, I just have this #8 wire squeezed under the terminal, and it's not a very good connection. I have thought of using an electrical split bolt to the battery cable and lots of tape. But before I do this, I was wondering if anyone knows of some sort of side terminal adaptor that can be bolted right to the battery. I imagine this would be some sort of custom thing available at an auto racing/customizing store, but I am not into that sort of thing so I dont know where to look.
Can anyone help....
Mark