RE: Remote starter solenoid again

[Jim Grammer <jimg@domain.elided>]

>I would like to go with the remote starter selenoid as you mention in
>your harness notes.  Do I keep the existing motor-mounted bendix-
>integrated selenoid?  Do I disable the electrical contactors inside
>the plastic bendix endcap?  How do I ensure the bendix is engaged
>before the starter motor spins?  All comments invited!

>Mark,
>	I'm a little confused with your question, but you have to keep the
>bendix drive on the starter since that is what actually engages the
>starter.  The new solenoid simply sends full battery power to the starter
>via the "thick" (2 ga. I think) cable.

AFAI can tell, this is all you can accomplish by mounting an 'auxiliary' 
starter solenoid, that is get a full 12v and some serious current to the 
starter. The Delco style solenoid performs 2 functions in 1. It engages the 
bendix so the starter can drive the ring gear/flex plate, and it acts as a 
relay to supply power to spin the starter motor. I have never had a problem 
with the bendix drive portion(not to say it can't happen), my difficulties 
have always been with a heat soaked starter/solenoid that draws down all 
the available cranking amps and won't spin the motor. A little 
experimentation(wired directly to the motor input lug) showed that the 
motor spun OK when supplied directly with 12V. Conclusion: the heat soaked 
solenoid unit was failing miserably in it's power relay duties. Hanging an 
auxiliary Ford style solenoid by the starter helped a bit, but mostly 
'cause of the 0 ga. cable used. You're still forced to rely on the starter 
mounted solenoid to pass power to the starter, tho', 'cause you can't 
readily seperate the circuits(bendix and starter motor) in the Delco 
starter. Somebody please correct me if I'm missing something, but I spent a 
fair amount of time on this for my 401 conversion. Delco offers a heat 
resistant solenoid that seems like it should be a practically universal 
fit(the applications I've seen are SB Chevy), does anybody have any 
experience with these units? My other option, since I still have the 
problem on very hot(100+) days, is to go to the Ford style starter since 
that's what Jeep used on the 401's, but that's gonna cost more $ than a new 
solenoid. BTW, this is with stock cast iron manifolds and a 12g(yes, 
12g)stainless heat shield that completely seperates the starter from the 
exhaust. A tip on hot days if your rig has a heat soak problem is to crack 
the hood when you park the truck. The engine compartment will cool down in 
1/2 the time.

Jim