installed new starter and now I have a short?

[hinkdart]

I figured I'd post this up in case anyone else came across this. I have a 72 with a 360 and headers. Has a reman starter that cranks slow when the car is warm and usually won't start. Starts perfectly when cold though. Someone has definitely done this job before because the header bolts were very loose as well as the starter and the tie rods. Scary...

I bought a mini starter and spent a big chunk of time yesterday installing it. Removed the header bolts and tie rod and center link and was able to get the old one out. Oh yeah and I discovered that the rear exhaust manifold bolt dumps your coolant, fun fun.

Everything is tight under there and I'm working on the ground. I installed the two electrical connections and tightened down everything blind. Long story short everything is together and I hook up the battery. As soon as I put the neg terminal on, pos is already on, it sparks and I hear some type of noise. It took me a couple tries to get it off and in that quick time the neg cable got pretty warm.

I'm positive that I didn't hook the battery up wrong. It's pretty obvious which one is the pos and neg. Neg goes to the block and firewall. Went through all that before I made the electrical connections. The only thing I can think of is that the connections on the starter itself twisted when I was tightening them down and are touching....

Any ideas? I was shot late last night when this happened and just went to bed. I hope I didn't fry anything. Thanks in advance

 

[TrailBeast]

Sounds like you might be on the right track with the short, but it probably shorted to the block or possibly the starter case. (mini starter connections are pretty close to the block) and if the two connections on the starter were touching each other it would have started cranking the engine over when you connected the battery.

I'd bet you will find it easily enough when you look at it.

 

[67Dart273]

Many of those mini-starters come with what you might call a bracket which extends the terminals. This actually comes OFF and reveals more common looking studs right on the solenoid. It might be that adapter bracket is hitting the block.

This idea of installing high current cables "blind" is not good. Get under the car, get lights, get a mirror, get whatever it takes to get under there and LOOK.

 

[hinkdart]

I got it all figured out. The thicker cable had about 2 inches of insulation cut out and it must have made contact with the starter body somewhere. I bent the connections at an angle, used some liquid product that seals electrical when it dries, put hard plastic insulation around it and taped it up.

I can't believe how fast that little starter spins the engine. Its insane how powerful the little powermaster is.

 

[TrailBeast]

Glad you got it figured out.
Those starters use less amps on top of spinning the moter faster.
There are a couple of things on my own car that I would NEVER go back from.
The mini starter is one and the HEI ignition is the other.

 

[pishta]

Glad you got it figured out.
Those starters use less amps on top of spinning the moter faster.
There are a couple of things on my own car that I would NEVER go back from.
The mini starter is one and the HEI ignition is the other.

Word. That mini style starter spun my 451 faster than the old gear reduction starter hands down, although i kept a points distributor in the trunk after i made the jump to the E-dizzy. About a 10 minute swap if it ever failed.

 

[TrailBeast]

Word. That mini style starter spun my 451 faster than the old gear reduction starter hands down, although i kept a points distributor in the trunk after i made the jump to the E-dizzy. About a 10 minute swap if it ever failed.

I build and sell the GM style HEI kits and that is what I have been running for two years now (flawlessly, not a problem one)
I was driving down the road one day and saw a Duster pulled over and a young guy looking under the hood so I pulled over.
His ballast was dead so I went to the trunk and gave him the one that came off my car when I switched.
Next day he came to my house and bought one of my HEI kits and I offered to install it for him, and I readjusted his timing and carb while he was here.
After he left he came back about 20 min later and I thought "Uh oh, whats up?"
He said he just had to come back and tell me thank you (again) and that his car had never run so nice.

That was a good feeling not just to help him out, but also to show the youngster how much better these cars can run with a few of the right details.