64 starter wire questions v-8
 

I have a few questions about starter wiring if someone could help me.

is there just one wire that goes to the S terminal on the starter and the positive battery cable?

Does the S terminal wire come from the front lighting harness or the engine harness?

Approximatly how long is the positive battery cable from the starter to the horn relay? I see them anywhere from 30" to 38" which is a big difference.

how long should the wire tube by the manifold be for a 64? I see 4" and 4 1/2" not sure which is appropriate? also I have heard the wires still can melt in the tube should there be protective wrap on them?

I have seen a wire clip for the valve cover/starter wiring advertised for a 64 v-8 is this something that is needed?

Thank you!

According to what I researched when decoding KC & Balt Shipping Orders ('64 PHS docs for those Plants), the 6 cyl Tempests had Battery Wire manifest code DD which I decoded as Negative Cable p/n 2983850, 25" long and Positive Cable p/n 2987236, 38" long.

All V8 Tempests had Battery Wire manifest code FF which I decoded as Negative Cable p/n 2983853, 27" long and Positive Cable p/n 2987242 Battery to Junction Block, 11" long.

The wire assembly from Junction Block to Starter I identified as p/n 2987929. I did not indicate the length of this wire assembly.

This wire assembly would include the purple wire with a connector and a positive battery cable

Peter Serio has previously posted an excerpt of the Positive Battery Terminal and Horn Relay drawing from the Assembly Manual (no plans to make this valuable resource public apparently).

It was posted to show that there were 2 factory choices for the '64 Horn Relay, a Littelfuse version and a Delco version.

But it shows some of what you are asking about.

It partially illustrates p/n 2987929 and shows the purple wire tape wrapped to the positive cable starting at a point a few inches away from the junction block.

It does not show the wire tube which might appear in another illustration referenced, routing and attachment of battery cables to engine which is identified as "Sheet #3".

I believe the wire tube may have been revised during the '64 Model Year, possibly even that no tube was used very early year.

The purple wire connector is joined to a connector routing out of the front end wire assembly which is the wire assembly from the LH (driver side) connector at the firewall and includes the wiring for the headlights.

When the site is working better, I could post the Serio excerpt or you can search "Horn Relay" and might find it. Hope this thread will still open after I post this reply.

Thank you John that is good information!

another thing I forgot to ask is if a person should run the heat shield that goes on top of the solenoid? I'm pretty sure they came after 64 but I don't want problems either.

The Starter/Ignition Harness is a separate engine harness.
Not incorporated with the front end lighting harness.
I just had to replace this on my '66.

I have been trying to look and cant find a separate harness for 64 for the starter. Would you have a part number?

Thank you!

Contact M&H they have what you need.

Hmm, I don't know anything about '66 wiring. However, I think I correctly described the starter wire assembly p/n 2987929 in my previous post. The purple wire terminates at a connector. It attaches to a mating connector that comes from the front end wiring.

The illustration pic from Peter Serio is attached.

Do not believe (and have never seen the heat shield used on a 64 to 66 Pontiac A-Body solenoid from the factory).
My memory says that the shield was added, in 1967, for the Ram Air Manifold Cars due to the larger thermal exhaust mass located next to the solenoid.

People like myself have added the shield when they ran the ram Air Cast Iron 67 manifolds on their 64 GTOs. The Shield DOES WORK.

Tom V.

I called Ames yesterday to get clarification on which harness has the purple starter wire. that wire comes with the M350K starter cable assembly with protective sheath which plugs into the front lighting harness. I'm glad I called as to not have purchased the front harness to get that wire. It was a bit expensive but it makes sense to have it as an assembly.

As far as the difference in tube length the support said that the 4 1/2" was on the tri power cars and the 4 " was on the 4 barrel cars.

The valve cover clip must be 65 and up where they changed to the starter wire being in the engine harness.

Thank you for all the input!

remy30006

For 1964

Per my notes, for the second design (sometime after 1/1/64), the starter cable measured 31" long, end to end. (I measured to the end of the connectors, and I would guess the actual cable would be about 30" long). I believe the 38" length you reference is for the first design. The first design did not have need for the protective tube. The purple wire measured 27" long. The protective loom measured 19" long.
This may not help as my spares are difficult to access during the winter. I had to take measurements of the protective cadmium plated tubes already mounted in the cars, which grew difficult in trying not to scratch finished paint. As best as I could determine, the length was about 4 1/4" long. If I had better access I'd give you a more accurate number. The original tubes were a straight shot. I have seen some reproductions that have a flair to the exiting end. This is not correct, but I believe is an attempt to reduce chafing of the loom and wires inside. If you do a search in this forum, you will find additional discussion of this topic. I don't believe different tubes were used for the tri-power and 4 bl engines. The tubes I measured were from both tri-power and 4 bl engines
The valve cover clip was not used in 1964.