Re: 1955 & 1956 Starter. Delco or Autolite interchange

Posted by HH56 On 2017/6/20 22:59:14

The 55-56 Delcos Packard used are a solenoid operated pinion shift type starter and the Autolite is just a straight Bendix drive so that is the main difference between starters. If you have the complete Delco starter and solenoid the assys will directly interchange. Solenoids are completely different so the Autolite will not work with the Delco but all the basic wiring will interchange. Just take the wires connected to the Clipper solenoid battery terminal and the brown starter wire from ign (or neutral safety) switch going to the coil terminal and transfer them over to their respective Delco terminals .

The wiring difference is in a 4th terminal on the Delco solenoid. On a senior Packard which used the Delcos there is a light green wire connected to that terminal which goes to the ballast resistor to cut it out of the circuit and provide 12v directly to the coil when the engine is starting. I do not believe the Clippers used that wire but I don't know for sure. I haven't been around Clippers that much to remember. The wiring diagram shows the Delco solenoid and wire and not the Autolite solenoid. If the Clipper has that wire I would be interested in knowing where it is connected in the Autolite setup and it would also transfer over to the 4th terminal on the Delco.