I just replaced my Hardin Marine factory style starter with a Tilton Severe Duty on my 383. The new starter has less posts than my old starter. On my old starter, the skinny post closest to the block is where I hooked up my yellow wire with red stripe. The skinny post farthest from the block had and orange wire hooked to it. I know where to put the yellow wire on my new starter, as there is a little tab for it to hook to on the top, but there is no post for the orange wire. I don't know what the orange wire does, but can I hook it to the positive post on the starter? The instructions for the Hardin Marine harness that I am using say the the orange wire is for " "r" on starter." I don't know what "r" is, but I was under the impression that it may be the wire that sends extra juice to the coil only when the starter is cranking. If that is the case, do I need it, becase I am running a Crane Hi-6m and MSD high vibe coil? Thanks much!!

On the big blocks ...yellow/red goes to the small post ....the big post has the red from the battery ...red to 50 amp bkr and the orange goes to the Altenator ..m

Gotcha, but my problem is that my new starter has one less post, so should I put the orange that was on the other small post onto the big post with all the other wires?

not sure ....someone will post soon I am sure ...if not call DB Electric .... 1-800-753-2242

You don't need that wire anymore. It supllies the coil full voltage during cranking when you are using a resistor and points ignition.. somebody has probably already cut the other end when you upgraded to electronic..

Hey Pete,
Dont use that orange wire anymore, you wont need it. That Tilton starter is the same as mine. All you need to do, is hook up that yellow and red wire to the small tab on the Tilton. The large stud, gets your fused positive cable. If you are not sure about the yellow/red wire, to test it, attach a test light clip to ground, the point of the test light goes to the yellow/red wire, it should get Positive voltage only when the key is turned to the start position.

Thanks for the help guys. I followed the wire today and realized it was no longer needed. I hooked up the rest of the wires and the starter works (surprisingly enough!)

Well..... Did it solve your cranking problem????

Oh yeah! We will see how it does this weekend when it is good and hot with 24* of initial and 11:1 CR, but the starter has as much HP as a lawn mower...BTW, the bolts on the old starter weren't very tight, despite the Red Locktight I used, I'll have to keep an eye on this one, but the other one was working pretty hard.