This is a bit off topic, but I have an older full size Chevy that had
all the wires that power the car connected to the starter solenoid
(under the engine). While I have always preferred GM vehicles, I have
always thought that Ford had a better system by having the solenoid on
the firewall, rather than under the engine where all the road crud and
stuff could get on the wires and corrode them.

Last summer my old Chevy decided to not start. I spent several hours
messing with it, and it finally started, and ran fine for another
month. Then, the same thing happened, and once again I fought with
it, and again it finally started. A week later this happened again,
and this time there was visible smoke pouring out from under the hood
when I tried to start the car. At least this time I was able to
locate the problem. One of those wires had shorted to the exhaust
manifold. I pulled the starter, applied electrical tape, was sure to
keep the wires away from the exhaust system, and thought the problem
was solved.

Wrong. The other day the same thing happened, but this time nothing
was touching the exhaust. Yesterday I removed the starter again, and
this time I decided that these wires would no longer go under the car.
I replaced all the wires that had bad insulation, replaced all the
fusible links, and ran the whole harness directly to the battery. The
only wires that remained going to the starter was the main battery
cable, and the "START" (IGN) wire. All the other wires now go right
to the battery. The problem I now have is how to connect it to the
battery side terminal connector. At the moment, I just have this #8
wire squeezed under the terminal, and it's not a very good connection.
I have thought of using an electrical split bolt to the battery cable
and lots of tape. But before I do this, I was wondering if anyone
knows of some sort of side terminal adaptor that can be bolted right
to the battery. I imagine this would be some sort of custom thing
available at an auto racing/customizing store, but I am not into that
sort of thing so I dont know where to look.

Can anyone help....

Mark