The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Fill in the Blanks

Hello All -
I need your help. I am in the process of re-wiring my 62, C10, straight 6, 235. I am using a brand new generic wiring harness...the kind with the writing on the wires telling you where the wires hook up. I can't get the truck started but the starter turns over. It ran fine before I started the project, so I know all of my components work well. Here are my questions. In a stock truck...
1) Where does the wire from the bottom of the distributor post(not the one that goes to the top of the coil)go?
2) The solenoid has an "R" post. Does a wire hook up to that and if so where does it connect to?
3) Does a wire hook to the negative side of the coil and if so where does it go?

Thanks for your help!

Here is a wiring diagram I just googled up.

basic ignition wiring

Hy Bats62Chevy, I don't really understand your first question, unless you are including the high tension lead from the coil to the distributor. The wire from the solenoid "R" post goes up to either the ballast resistor output terminal, or direct to the coils positive primary terminal. The wire which hooks to the coils negative primary terminal, is the one which goes down to the distributors primary connection, without that wire you will get no coil output. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the replies.
Fried Green...does the wire going from "R" to coil positive have to be 20 gauge or will something a little larger (12 gauge) work?
3B...my first question refers to the wire from the points post on the distributor. Also, what is a ballast resistor output terminal and what is it's purpose?
I believe that both of you answered my questions the same way. I will try it out tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Hy Bats62Chevy, you can go larger in wire size with no problem, even though it probably isn't necessary, it's when you go smaller in size that you could create problems. A ballast resistor is a device that lowers the voltage in the primary ignition circuit of a 12 volt system, [from 12 volts down to 6 - 9 volts] it is usually mounted on the firewall, a wire from the ignition switch is connected to the input terminal, another wire is connected to the output terminal, that wire goes to the positive coil terminal on a negative ground vehicle. On vehicles with an "R" terminal on the starter solenoid, a wire runs from this terminal to either the output terminal of the ballast resistor, or direct to the coil positive terminal on a negative ground vehicle, hope that helps.