66 Dart/74 la 318 starter issue

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Señor Ding Dong

Señor Ding Dong

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Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
So I recently swapped a 1971 la318 out and a 1974 la318 in to my 1966 Dart. Haven’t changed any wiring, but I’m having a starter issue. When I turn the key, the relay clicks, but nothing else. When that happens, the interior lights dim, the fuel gauge drops back to E. battery is healthy, I swapped in a new relay, I have continuity from the relay to the starter, and when I hook up a remote starter switch to the terminals on the starter it starts and runs fine.

What am I missing? What should I be looking for? Is it a short somewhere drawing all the power from the starter when I turn the ignition?

Any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated! I’m all ready to go cruise, but I don’t want to have to crawl under the car to start it every time!
 
The wire that’s supposed to run from the bulkhead to the solenoid is disconnected, but there is a wire through the firewall directly to the solenoid, assuming a past owner decided to bypass the bulkhead for some reason. I’ll have to check and see if that’s got continuity?
 
Are you using a known good starter? I would back it out to make sure it would run unbolted from the engine. Can you turn the engine over by hand to make sure it's not frozen. Just trying to cover the basics that can cause a starting problem
 
tonysrt said:
Are you using a known good starter? I would back it out to make sure it would run unbolted from the engine. Can you turn the engine over by hand to make sure it's not frozen. Just trying to cover the basics that can cause a starting problem
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Yeah, it starts perfectly every time if I use a remote start trigger wired directly to the terminals on the starter. And a brand new relay. I have discovered some weird wiring things tonight, and think I’m about to go down a real bad wiring rabbit hole. A wire through the firewall beside the throttle cable is attached to the ignition terminal on the relay, but the wire from the bulkhead that is supposed to go there is just hanging loose, and getting 12V with the key turned to start.
 
I'm curious to see what you find. I had this exact problem with my car, shorted the terminals on the starter relay to start the car and proceeded with my day, never having the problem again.
 
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quadruple double whammy check all your grounds. tight and clean enough to eat off of, baby!
 
Had that happen to me last Sunday. Jumped at the relay on the fender apron not from under the car. Turned out bad battery connection. Looked clean but wasn't.
 
Turns out it was any one of a number of things, or a combination. A previous owner spliced two wires going into the bulkhead connector, badly, (I’m not sure why they’re spliced in the first place), so that was a tenuous connection, the wire from the solenoid to the starter showed continuity, but had an old butt connection in the middle, so I replaced that wire, and I think the original wire from the bulkhead to the relay was just hanging down and I think shorting against the firewall.

Either way, it’s running now. I have some wiring issues to chase down and clean up, and I have to adjust the throttle cable and timing. (Throttle cable is coming up a bit short and not letting it drop all the way to idle. 2 bbl throttle bracket to a 4 bbl carb, but I had to use it for the style of kickdown linkage I’ve got. Might have to fashion a small extension for the throttle.

But it runs, and has way more bark than my old, tired 318. This one has Performer intake, edelbrock 600cfm carb, 360 heads, I think a .030 overbore and a small cam.
 
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