? on wire gage

[Mancar1]

If the gage of wire used is heavier then what is needed, could it cause a starting after warmed up problem? I have a Bro that said that was the hard start after warmup problem he had with his 68 Firebird. He took it to a shop and they figured it out. The heavier than needed wire was in his starting system.

[390bump]

No - that is completly false! 3 things to check for starting:

is motor turning over okay (starter)
do you have spark (ignition system)
do you have gas (fuel system)

the first 2 are electrical and the more current you have the better...

[seattle67]

[390Nut]

Another thing to take a look at; these trucks are notorious for being hard starting when warmed up, especially if they sit for more than a few minutes. The heat from the engine can literally boil the fuel out of the carb and into the intake, flooding the engine.

If you have the OEM heated spacer between the carb and intake manifold, get rid of it and replace it with a phenolic spacer (plastic). They are relatively inexpensive, and will cure most hard hot-start problems.

If the electrical checks out (and no, a heavier than necessary wire wont cause this) my guess is on the starter, or the carb getting to warm after sitting.

[Mancar1]

I didn't think the heavier than needed gage wire would do it either. Just throwing what I was told out there for other opinons. Thanks all.
I have the heated carb spacer on my 390, but If that where my hard start after warmed up problem my starter would crank fine. I will replace the starter on the 68 when the weather gets better. I have done everything else.

[390bump]

On older cars, if the motor doesn't turn over when you try to star the vehicle the first suspect part is the starter solenoid. Often times, people change the whole starter when it is just the solenoid is bad. In the early eighties I worked for a couple of years at Standard Motors (anyone remember "blue streak parts" and "Jiffy Kits"?) - the number one item manufactured and sold was starter solenoids for GM cars. The copper contacts quickly wore out and also the solenoid would just lock up since it wasn't sealed well and moisture would get inside so easily. I knew people who kept a pipe in the trunk of their car so when the car wouldn't start they would open the hood and give the solenoid a hard poke using the pipe! I worked as an engineer there and we analysed and supplied replacements for lots of cars. I was a complete motor head and loved US muscle cars but had to admit the Japanese electrical parts where way better quality. This is when the Japanese cars started taking sales away from US car makers due to quality/reliability. GM knew it had terrible reliability with it's starter solenoids as an example and did nothing about it for years. Standard Motors made regular replacements and their Blue Streak line was called "heavy duty" for those willing to spend more money - parts were actually better then some of the OEM...
BTW, still remembered the "ss-200" part number for the GM solenoid and googled it and see Summit still carries it:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SMP-SS-200/

[Mancar1]

Thanks for your input on the solenoid 390bump. I have already replaced it.