Technical 1955 235 - 6 Starter Question

Looking at the solenoid on the starter, there are three terminals. The large one for the battery, the small one closest to the block that picks up the solenoid, and a third small one that has no wire connected on my car.
Is that third terminal supposed to deliver a full 12V to the coil during cranking, bypassing the resistor wire? The car has always been hard to start when its hot, will it help to run a wire from this terminal to the battery side of the coil?

 

I had a 216 in my 50 Chevy that was converted to 12 volts (badly, but running 12 volts). I believe I mine was hooked up the same as yours and worked fine. I'm not saying it was right, but it did work.

 

yeah, that's what it's for. But the early V8 cars and trucks had a circuit on the ignition switch to perform that function...might want to investigate and see if it's already getting full battery voltage while cranking?

 

That terminal provides 12 volts to the ignition coil bypassing the ballast resister for a hotter spark while cranking making easier to start because the battery voltage has a tendency to drop when starter is cranking. DC voltage is variable unlike AC. How it is done is there is a round plate inside the solenoid that moves forward when the solenoid is activated making contact with battery,starter motor and ignition terminal . When starter is disengaged , voltage returns to ignition resister providing app. 9 volts DC to the points to make them live longer. Hope this helps.

 

I did go back and look at the shop manual for the 55, and the print shows two connection going to the coil from the switch...one on each side of the resistor.
Since I was working by myself, I couldnt think of a good way to check if it was working correctly, so I just ran the wire from the starter terminal to the coil, being that they are pretty close together.
Thanks guys for the help!

 

the way you can test the original wiring, is by disconnecting the wire from the ign switch, that goes to the side of the resistor that the coil is NOT connected to. If it starts but quits running when you turn the key to the "RUN" position, then it IS getting full voltage while cranking, and you don't need the wire from the starter.