I've connected up my pinto starter motor and am getting nothing, not even a sign of a solenoid click out of it.

I've connected the big thick red lead from the battery to the top threaded stud on the soleniod where it goes and the ignition blue/black lead (via the red/black) to the long threaded stud.

The leads both have continuity so don't have broken wires. The casing is bolted to the bell housing and seems to be a good earth.

On turning the key, the red/black goes to +12v but I get nothing out of the motor.

The battery is giving 12.95v at the moment and the lighting is all fine. I've got it on charge at the moment (its an old Audi 90AH battery for testing at the moment and seems to be in good condition).

I have two starter motors. The one currently plummed in was turning the donor before I plumbed it back in. The other one should also be fine. I'm getting nothing out of either, so suspect I've got something wrong with the above wiring.

One started is a Bosch and the other is a Cajavec I think. The bosch starter has a spade terminal which I have not connected anything to.

Any suggestions?

earth lead onto the engine maybe?

Try them both direct on the battery first (maybe clamp it in a vice for safety) just so you can see that they're working ok!

HTH,
James

i agree with james, i had a similar problem with my pinto starter. i stuck in a vice to make sure that it was working before putting it back in the car.

Sure you're connecting the right contacts. You can have two small contacts, one of which is live when cranking to supply a ballasted coil, etc and one, usually the spade, switches the solenoid.
Rescued attachment Crankinglive.JPG

Thanks, so what I should do then really, is put the motor in a vice, connect negative to the vice then +ve to the two terminals.

Dusty, I sort of got what you mean. Looking at that picture, that is what the Bosch (not connected out of the two) looks like. So for that one I really want to be connecting the btty to the +ve terminal and the red/black (from the red/blue) to the spade connector. The cranking live becomes a supply to the coil and the switched +ve doesn't need anything, it just works

The one I have currently plugged it doesn't seem to have anything other than (based on the picture & the errors I have probably made) a long threaded stud replacing the space and a +ve connector.

The solenoid is a big relay which takes the full power from the battery via one terminal and passes it to the starter via the other terminal. Mine has a red/black to the small threaded terminal and the spade is a pass through to the coil to supply 12v for starting on a ballasted system. Try taking a wire from the battery live and touching it on the small threaded terminal when the starter is all connected and see if the solenoid throws in. Continuity may be there but is there 12v going down the rd/bk wire when you turn to position III on the switch?

Looks like I've got it going, ish. The main problem looked like a bad earth betwixt the starter and the battery.
For a test I moved the main earth from the chassis to the engine and it started up.
Its cranking very poorly at the moment, which I blame on my improvised earth and poss a defective battery (i.e. it possibly is knackered afterall and can't deliver the current).

Thanks for the help.