starter relay, next gen modification Options

[Tom]

Well, been meaning to get this done for a while. Didn't want the hot start kit from Bosche or the Ford relay, so I found one on line that I liked.
Installed the relay on a small bracket on one of the mounting screws for the relay board. Ran a new small yellow wire to pin 6 of the 12 pin connector and a brown ground wire to the bracket . Ran two 12 ga. wires fron the relay to the solenoid with the hot wire having an inline water resistant ATC fuse holder with a 30 amp fuse. Put some heat shrink around the normally used large yellow wire to protect it. On the solenoid side used tape to protect the connector that used to be hooked to the solenoid.
This relay uses 140 mili-amp so not a very large inductive spike to worry about, but I installed a supression diode across the relay coil anyway. Also put a larger one across the solenoid coil at the relay ( 87 to ground). This supresses the solenoid coil inductive spike to protect the relay contacts.
here are a few pics, and a link to more info: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&a...eg_6KDxZdKYQYGw This is the aeroelectric link
Oh, I tested it several times and it works just fine.
Tom
Edit: changed back EMF to inductive spike, sorry if this confused anyone. Inductive or transient spike is the correct term for what is happening here

[Cap'n Krusty]

Look out Maude, here comes the rain on the parade!

In your search for a "hidden and different" location for your hot start relay, you've put it outside the protective cover for the relay board, exposed the connections to moisture by mounting the relay on its side, mounted it where it takes a long run of heavy wire to be effective, and used cheap Chinese crap for a relay.

In theory, you want a relay that will trigger at the low voltage often supplied buy the aging wiring on a 914, and you want it as close to the starter as possible, while keeping the connections out of the elements as much as possible. That's why I use a 6-volt Ford type relay, mounted close to the starter, and cover all splices and connections, other than those directly on the relay posts, with heat-shrink tubing. A fuse is unnecessary, and just another potential failure point. BTW, I have customer cars that have seen daily use for more than 25 years with the 6V relays, without a single relay failure. Ugly? Sure, but they're under the car where no one sees them, and they're convenient for service or bypass should they ever fail, which they don't.

The Cap'n