MuuMuu101's 68 Dart, A Learning Process...
You can crimp another end on that wire. I forget if it is a 14ga or 12ga wire, with a number 10 ring terminal.
If that starter is giving you fuss, a cheapie ebay mini starter from a '97 dodge Dakota with a 5.2 will work just fine.
I grabbed a #10 ring terminal and a crimping tool from work today. I bought my own on Amazon, but that won't come for a few days. I also got a heat gun and a soldering iron kit, as I figured it would be inevitable I work with electronics in the future and they were cheap (~$20/each). I crimped the new ring terminal on (it was my first time so it wasn't pretty), and installed the starter. Prior to that, I made sure that all of the teeth were on the flywheel, and they were. When I went to go connect the battery, the battery sparked and the starter turned on. So, I had to go back, and remove the starter and make sure that the power chord wasn't touching the ground. I reinstalled the starter and I guess it didn't seat right because it made gear noises every time I hit the accelerator pedal. So now I have to go back and uninstall and reinstall the starter for the 10th time.
The starter is still free wheeling at start-up. But one thing I noticed is that it sounded the same as when the starter engaged when I had the shorting boo boo with the battery. So, now I'm wondering, could it be that I'm not getting enough fuel (just changed spark plugs, so spark should be good) to the cylinder and the engine is just free wheeling until it can finally detonate the fuel? Or do you still think it is a starter engagement problem?
Anywho, I probably won't be able to work on the car until Friday. I've been cutting out 15-30 mins of my workout the past couple days and that has been helping me a lot to get out and work on the car. It's almost like working on the car ends up being part of my workout, especially when it's super hot outside. I was sweating quite a bit and it was only 7 pm.
Home sales in Southern California are down 11.8% so that may work in your buying favor. Keep it all in perspective and it will work out well. The car is nice and basically just suffering some minor hiccups that all older classics suffer - don't worry about this and it will work out well in time. Keep the faith, stay strong, and keep us posted.
Yes and no... Sales are going down because interest rates went up and home values are starting to become ridiculous. My fiance and I are still saving for 20% down + closing fees/buffer and should have enough by the winter. Hopefully, by then, the buyers die down and we can negotiate a little bit as people are trying to get out of there homes by the end of the year.
I'm trying hard. I really want to fix this on my own just to say I can do it. Which is a lot easier now that I have a bit more time. With this car, I always feel like I take it 80% of the way there and then give up and give it to someone else to finish. Then I get screwed afterwards.