Now I'm confused

[Midlife]

I wonder if apply full power on the starter cable side is causing the solenoid internals to stick...I'd go back to the battery cable on the forward side. The solenoid is designed to have constant power on one lead and the other main lead (starter) to only have very occasional power applied to it.

 

[Horseplay]

I've searched all over trying to get an internal diagram of the solenoid to no avail. As it is wired from the factory is would seem the coil portion is connected to the "S" terminal and grounded to the mounting bracket/chassis. The "I" terminal gets power when the coil is energized and closes the contact, passing power from one large post to the other. Given this set-up, it should not make a difference to which post the battery or starter is connected.

What I cannot get my head around is why the "I" post is maintaining power when the current to the "S" terminal is removed. It would seem the starter should be powered as well. I guess I need to see the inner "guts" of a solenoid to figure it out. There must be dual contacts is my guess.

I think this is about a poor ground as well. You need to sand off the paint where the bracket meets the chassis regardless. If you have access to a meter, the next time it won't cut off check to see if you have power at posts "S", "I" and the starter lug. That would help clear things up.

 

[Sluggo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... GGTaOQkkAk

 

[Kats66Pny]

Well that doesn't mean it's correct.
They came from the factory with the batt cable on the left and the starter cable on the right.

Ok but I took my 66 to classicdoug's restoration shop and they are they ones that did the troubleshooting when I couldn't get it started after I replaced all the engine bay wiring and they are the ones that figure out that the solenoid (the old one) was wired backwards. It was only that first new solenoid that was backwards. The others I've put in I had the starter/batt cables on the 'normal' sides.