V1 Engine grounds and such

[PHENDERSON]

It's been a long while but I have my 3rd wind to finish this thing. Did a complete engine rebuild over the summer.

I need help with some of the wires. There are 3 poles on the starter, 1 in the back is taken (yellow). That leaves the large pole on the top (red) and small pole (blue) facing away from the engine. Does the large wire from the alternator connect to the large pole (red)? I also have a large red wire i noted starter to fuse box. Which starter pole does this connect to? Which starter pole does the large black wire from the goblin (i think battery ground) connect to? There is also a small ground (white)

I noted "water pump", is there a ground connection on the water pump or do I just connect it to the starter ground? Finally I have a pile of grounds i need to connect to the engine somewhere around the transmission, is there a preferred location?

Basically, the connections between the alternator and starter and where do the other thick short cables connect.

I hope the pictures help.

Once I figure this out im ready to mount the engine again and try my 3rd "first start". Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks Paul

 

[duthehustle93]

Yes, I believe everything ties into the top pole on your starter (red). Here is the factory power distribution. Basically the main power wire runs from the front to the starter lug, and that same lug goes to the alternator and fuse box. I believe this is covered in the videos. The grounds kinda go wherever it makes sense and is a clean good ground location, but there is one in that area that lugs onto the transmission bolt (there's one that has a studded head). Make sure there's redundancy between the chassis and engine, but other than that there's no science on the grounding.

 

[PHENDERSON]

So the big terminal is pos and the little one is neg, on the starter.

 

[Rttoys]

Hold on

all terminals on the starter are positive. The starter case is negative. Big terminal is positive from batt and I think to fuse box. purple wire to “start”. Nothing is negative to starter. Let me find some pictures

 

[Rttoys]

 

[Rttoys]

No negative goes to the starter. Big terminal on top is positive and the other terminal down and front is the “trigger” To start.

 

[ah.b.normal]

RTTOYS Diagram of the big + battery wires is EXCELLENT!!

Favorite pet peeve here! Many black + wires that are always hot, directly from the batt + pole, should be red insulation!(but on this donor are not!) There are also many black wires(-) that should be black! There is a 8-10 gauge wire running from the back of the alt to the lg upper post on starter.(IMO though it has black insulation and is always hot(+) it should have RED insulation for quick ID. So long as the battery is connected it carries + 12V and all the battery's available CCA, usually on the order of 400 amps!{which is a lot of amps, it won't likely kill ya but you'll be welding like MacGuyver!})
Pic #1, that is the "red" + wire that runs from the starter upper post to the funky jumper cable connection bolt on the fuse block. (Note it has little red sleeves on the ends, not good enough to make it a red wire!{in my book} but it's all we got!)

Pic #2 Copper lugs circled in red. They are(group) grounds and usually go on a stud on a bellhousing bolt or just put them under the head of one of the bellhousing bolts.
ALSO Pic #2 Circled in blue is the main ground from the engine to the FRAME. Make sure it gets excellent contact on the frame, it completes the high amp starter circuit and if dirty, corroded or poorly connected, starting can over tax many smaller ground paths, possibly burning them up! (It originally ran from a bellhousing bolt to a stud under the Cobalt's left headlight.) This wire makes me smile as it should be black insulated and IS!

Pic #3 Red is the upper bolt on the Starter solenoid. Your positive from the battery and the positive from the fuse block and the smaller 8*-10* wire from the back of the Alt all (can) connect here. (Some folks follow the Cobalt installation style and connect the batt + to the jump post on the fuse block as original. Either position works. Note the wire from the alt to the starter is black but should be red IMO. All the questionable "black" wires, that "back in the old days" since they are always hot +and red insulated, I stripe them with red electrical tape, to try to limit mistaken ID.

Tiny wire circled in white goes to the "S" post(usually there is an S molded into the plastic body of the solenoid.) on the starter(circled in blue.) It is the exciter wire from the start switch. (That wire is and always has been purple on GM cars since the 50's.)