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TR4/4A WIRING question: gear reduction starter

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Willie_P

Willie_P

Jedi Hopeful
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I purchased a new gear-reduction starter from Moss motors - has anyone here installed one of these?

The one-page wiring instructions from Moss seem simple enough, but I want to be sure I'm following correctly.

The directions essentially say to take the starter cable from the solenoid post as ORIGINALLY mounted from the factory and then (for the new starter motor) double up the starter cable on the SAME post as the battery cable. ...effectively, leaving one post with Nothing attached to it. is this correct?
- the post that now has BOTH the battery cable and the starter cable attached to it also (as original to the car's wiring) has two brown wires on it as well) - making NOW for a total of four wires on the same post ---- does this seem correct?

also, it instructs you to fashion a new wire from the center post of the solenoid (small one that has the ignition switch wire (red/white) on it) to the starter motor also.

i've not taken the liberty to add power to this wiring scheme as of yet - but was looking for some remarks here before i do so. thanks, wes
 
I believe that is correct, for the Moss instructions. In effect, the original solenoid is no longer used for anything except for tie points to join the wires together.

But, it's not the only way that works. I elected to go a different route on my TR3A and TR3; which keeps the original solenoid as part of the circuit. There are two advantages IMO, one is that the under-hood starter button remains functional. The other issue (which I had some concern about) is that the new starter solenoid draws a lot more current than the original starter solenoid did, and with the Moss wiring, the starter push-button (on a TR3/A) or ignition switch start contact has to supply that extra current. With my method, the switch only sees the load it was designed for.

So, I still moved the original starter cable to the always hot post (along with the cable from the battery and the brown wires to the wiring harness). However, I then ran a new wire from the vacated post to the small terminal on the new starter. So, the original solenoid gets activated by the original switch; current through the original solenoid activates the new solenoid, then the new solenoid controls the current to the motor.

Not a very good shot, but you can see most of it here


The golden wire at the top is the hot cable to the battery (previously replaced after a misadventure with an original starter let the smoke out); the black wire at the bottom is the original cable to the starter. The light brown wire visible underneath is the new control wire. The original brown wires are wrapped in black tape, visible to the left of the black starter cable.
 
I did the same thing with my TR250. Wanted to keep original look, plus for some reason you wanted to put old starter back in, thats one less thing to look for.

marv
 
Randall, you seem to confirm exactly what I did (including the extra small wire). And also gave me a better explanation of how all of this works. FWIW - I also like the push button starter feature. wp
 
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