How to Wire Ford Mini Starter using Original Solenoid

Using a new style ford starter to clear headers or fit a newer style bell housing for a T5 transmission swap? Use your old solenoid setup to run the new starter, I'll run you through the details here. This will work for Mustangs of many years and all other Ford products with the fenderwell-mounted solenoid

[@clems6989]

It was called a movable pole shoe. Current through the stator pulled the shoe down and then mechanical linkage pulled the starter drive gear into the flywheel teeth. It worked beautifully!

[@Drippppppppp]

Thank you man. Subscribed was looking at mini starter and was a little confused straight to the point with the actual solenoid . Much appreciated.

[@RiggsGarage]

Glad to help, good luck with the project!

[@user-gq8fi6qi9j]

Thanks Buddy This Was Most Helpful My Starter Would stay Stuck Thanks Again Looking Forward to More of Your Videos

[@davidgoodwin658]

Thanks for the information. I was going to buy a Jegs Hitachi mini starter for my ford.

[@RiggsGarage]

Good plan. Thank you

[@DudesWithWrenches]

Great info man keep up the great content

[@RiggsGarage]

Thank you!

[@RockyTopSplash]

What do you do with "field" wire from alternator?? And the "field" wire "F" terminal on voltage regulator???

[@Onlyf0rds]

Great video. Very helpful

[@RiggsGarage]

Thanks! Happy to help

[@scottclark2413]

What are the two smaller posts (pointing towards the engine) used for? Are they 12v only when the starter is engaged, or are they key on 12v?

[@jevontecole7836]

@1:38…I only have One screw on the car solenoid on each side, would that make alternator wire hot ? The one going to battery?

[@Mrlapej]

Is there a mini starter that will fit a 300 6 cylinder?

[@arthurboyd522]

Thanks for the video. Just to be clear the constant hot/battery cable is to the top post on the starter, right?

[@RiggsGarage]

You're welcome. Correct, top post

[@tomuss2082]

I would have liked it if you showed where you connected it jumper wire on the mini starter.

[@RiggsGarage]

There are only two connections on the starter. One is huge, that's for the giant power wire. One is tiny, that's for the tiny trigger wire. Hope this helps

[@tomuss2082]

@@RiggsGarage Thanks for the quick reply, that's what I needed.

[@BigKuda1776]

I have the regular starter but it cranks in the on position. I have the wires on the correct s and I post any ideas?

[@RiggsGarage]

Solenoid could be stuck? Might hit it and disconnect to test it

[@dunndada1631]

Is there anyway you could do an entire video of the wiring I have an f250 that needs to be rewired

[@RiggsGarage]

I don't have any other projects to wire unfortunately. Thanks for watching

[@elimcinnes706]

Thanks mate for some reason as soon as I put my key line in the post the car starts with no key.

[@RiggsGarage]

Weird, did you figure it out??

[@elimcinnes706]

@@RiggsGarage gonna take a look tonight I think I may have put the ignition key line on the wrong side

[@RiggsGarage]

@@elimcinnes706 that sounds like it

[@elimcinnes706]

So what had happened, was I dropped off the little cork gasket spacer on the battery side post, didn’t notice it at night. so when I tightened all the nuts down it was touching the body of the relay making everything hot

[@78fordtruck4]

The way you're doing it works fine then I don't really like the constant hot cable going to the starter especially when you're running headers why don't you just hook up the hot cable wire and the trigger wire to the other side of the solenoid or just use a short jumper wire on the starter from the trigger terminal do the main terminal on the starter

[@bobbyradford2711]

What you just said, (78fordtruck), is what I do. Works perfect !

[@luismendoza2522]

Hey man..why every time I crank the car the selenoid starts smoking on the positive side
65 mustang 302...thanks

[@RiggsGarage]

Bad connection can cause heat, I'd check connections before and after for real voltage drop. Also could be a faulty solenoid, but I'd check the connections first

[@RiggsGarage]

Also could be a short somewhere!

[@Tbales0950]

Why can’t you just leave both wires on starter side?

[@RiggsGarage]

Go for it

[@Tbales0950]

@@RiggsGarage just seems like having live power to the starter all the time isn’t the best idea incase something happens are burns your car down.

[@RiggsGarage]

@@Tbales0950 I see what you're saying. I need to go back and look, I believe Ford left constant hot to them as well. I believe that's a pretty common practice. But I'll go back and look, it's been a while. Hope your project goes well!

[@Tbales0950]

@@RiggsGarage I figured it out. Starter won’t disengage if you wire the way I was thinking. So I’m just gonna throw a mega fuse on the power cable to keep if safe from grounding

[@RiggsGarage]

@@Tbales0950 ah, I figured there was a definite reason the factory did it that way, but I'm not an electrician and don't know why. I think we now know. Thanks for commenting

[@marsiasc2280]

Overhead view did not help the illustrations

[@ensomantele9891]

No good,something wrong,..

[@RiggsGarage]

How so? Been driving it for a year +