The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Stomp starter / bypass & external resistor wiring

I recently replaced original wiring harness in my 1948 Chevy truck with one I purchased from Classic truck parts. The truck had already been converted to 12V by a prior owner. I have been reading up on the subject from threads on Stovebolt and purchased a new 12V starter swith wit the side bypass terminal . After installing this switch I attempted to start. The starter would turnover the engine but the bypass terminal wasn't engaging inside the switch so I wasn't getting the required 12 volts to the coil at start up.
I removed the new switch and looked inside and found the contact for the top terminal turned sideways probably from me tightening the nut holding the positive battery wire terminal too much on the top of the switch. This prevented the side bypass terminal from engaging & providing the 12 volts to the + side of coil. Bottom line is the new switch is not as well built as the old switch.
The original set up had a heavier gauge wire going from the ignition switch B terminal to the stomp starter switch. A lighter gauge wire going from the ignition switch I terminal to the + terminal on the coil. Finally the external resistor was wired into the wire going from the - side of the coil to the distributor. The truck ran fine wired like this so I am wondering if I should just put the old starter switch back on and wire the start circuit the way it was before. I appreciate any advise as I am real close to being able to get the old 48 back on the road again.

I forgot to mention the engine in my 1948 is a 235 out of a 1954 Chevy if that helps any.

Thanks again

Keith.

no, it might have run fine for the time being, but that is not the way it should be ... the ignition resistor goes between the ignition switch and the coil +, and the bypass wire from the starter goes directly to the coil + or to the 'output' end of the resistor - you do need that bypass wire so the coil gets max voltage when the starter is drawing a lot, and you do need the resistor to reduce the voltage to the coil so you don't overheat it or burn up points rapidly

Bill

Thanks Bill
I'll wire it up the way you suggest in the morning and hopefully I can get the bypass terminal to engage inside the starter switch so I can obtain the needed 12V to the coil during start up. I tried in my original question to describe the best I could how the contacts got out of whack but probably did a lousy job doing so.

Thanks again

Keith

no, that was clear, that copper lug in there shouldn't be able to turn, but you may be able to work something out between the new and old ones to get a workable switch

Bill

Bill, I was wondering about this myself. On my 58 the bypass from the solenoid goes through the ignition switch (start position only) to the output side of the resistor. Couldn't Keith just run a wire from the starter directly to the positive side of the coil? Isn't that only energized when cranking?

yes Ted, the bypass wire [from the side terminal] can go directly to the coil, providing you want it to fire any time you push the foot pedal, it just goes thru the switch to prevent starting when the key is off

Bill

Of course Bill, that makes sense. Sounds like a major safety hazard!