wires from solenoid 1941 cadillac 60 special

[mr41cadillac]

ive been told that i need to replace the 2 wires that run from the solenoid.  these wires are not large enough. i have the wiring diagram bill ingler sent but im not sure how to read it. can someone tell me if these wires run directly to the ignition switch or starter button. if they did then i can just disconnect them and run new larger wires. my friend says it will crank with 6 volt battery as we got it to crank by touching the 2 terminals on the starter. he says i also need a new voltage regulator.any help appreciated.  thnks john

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi John: I don`t understand the need for larger wires from the solenoid. There are 3 wires and a cable connected to the 41 starter solenoid. The 00 battery cable is attached to the solenoid and comes from the negative post of the battery since the 41 is positive ground. Connected to that same post is a 10 gage red tracer wire which goes from the solenoid to the ammeter on your dash. Now the other two wires are 16 gage wire and the routing of one of these wires depends on if your 41 has a hydramatic. If your car has a hydramatic then that 16 gage wire will be a red tracer wire and will go from the solenoid to the neutral safety switch.  Then that same red tracer wire will go from the neutral safety switch to the starter switch. If your 41 has a 3 speed stick shift then that wire leaves the solenoid as a 16 gage red cross tracer wire and goes direct to the starter switch. The second 16 gage wire from your solenoid is a 16 gage green cross tracer wire and joins in the wire loom with a 10 gage wire from the A connection on the generator.  That 10 gage wire then is connected to the current regulator connection on the voltage regulator. The first picture below is a 41 solenoid with a stick shift. Wires are old so you can`t see the wire colors. The second picture is my 47 which has a hydramatic with new wiring. Hope this helps with you questions.   Bill

[Steve Passmore]

I  concur with Bill, the two small wires do not need to be larger unless they have been changed to some tiny ones in the past, they actually connect to the Relay and as such do not pass the same current as the Solenoid.  If someone has replaced the other two Solenoid wires with smaller then thats a different matter.

[mr41cadillac]

bill thanks. what I have now is this. its a manual shift.  I have a 12 gage wire  coming fr0m  the top terminal of the solenoid.this wire goes thru the firewall and joins to an original cloth cover wire. goes where ? I thought that if it went directly somewhere I could run a wire with no splice.  there is no wire from the bottom solenoid terminal. I have a 12 gage wire and a 10 gage wire ( its not marked as 10 gage but is larger that the one marked 12 gage) we couldn't see the wires in the sun as to their size the other day. these 2 wire are attached to the battery wire that goes to solenoid.    the guy that worked on this a while back apparently cut the wires off that inside the car and splice new ones from that point to the engine. the man that helped me also said I could install a toggle switch on one wire to cut off all power since ive been taking off the battery terminal each time after driving. im having to wait on buying a new harness but think I can get it to crank on 6volt if I can get wires routed correctly thanks john

[Bill Ingler #7799]

John: Sounds to me like the guy that worked on your car a while back did not know what he was doing. If you have the original wiring in the car and wires have been cut and spliced, I would have a big fire extinguisher sitting beside me in the front seat plus and I would install a battery disconnect switch on the inside of the dash so you can get to it quickly while driving. Electrical fires in old cars can be disastrous, just look at Joe Ceretti`s picture of his 38-60special after his electrical fire. A new wiring harness is expensive but not as expensive as loosing your beautiful 41-60special to a fire.     Bill 

[Paul Phillips]

John
If you want to replace the front/main harness but stay on a budget, I have a fairly new one, maybe 5-10 years old, as made by YNZ Yesterdays.  This was in my 60S when I bought it, and I ended up replacing it for cosmetic reasons only.  Still has most of the wire numbers on it from their install instructions.  The only thing you should need to do is modify the Hydramatic neutral start function to suit your manual trans.  I would like to get a little money for it but don't need anything like the $1,000 a new one costs.  Let me know if interested.

Paul