Had to remove the starter and noticed this wiring issue. Are the two loose wires supposed to be connected here, or am I missing something?

FYI . . . the starter was working fine (removed it when changing spark plug wires).

Thanks for your help! As a new owner, I'll take all the help I can get!!!

 

Hi Mike,
Knowing your car's year would help.
My 71 starter solenoid has 4 wires, the BLK #2 and the BRN #14 to the B post, a PPL #12 to the S post, and a Y #20 to the R post.
Hope this helps some.
The harness near the starter is often in bad shape since it's so low to the ground and so near the exhaust manifold. DIRT and HEAT.
Regards,
Alan

 

Thanks Alan, it's a '76.

 

It looks like the fusible link is fried. There should be one continuous wire with a larger AWG line going to a black cylindrical junction followed by a smaller AWG wire, then another cylindical junction and finally a larger wire with a terminal lug. On the '71 model, it is a 12 awg (red) wire coming from the battery, which connects to a 14 awg (brown) fusible link, then to a 12 awg red wire with a lug which mounts to the "B" terminal on the starter solenoid.

 

I'm sure with the above posts you have enough info to reattach your wiring but since you said 76 I'll add a little bit.
Your 76 had 2 fusible links that were crimped into 1 large terminal.
In your pic the wire on the left is the 12 purple and it goes on the S terminal.
The very large black wire to the far right is battery cable.(you knew that )
Whats left are the 2 red wires. As 7t1 said are fusible links and 1 appears to be burnt in two. You should replace both fusible links. Go back behind the large black plastic cylinders and cut the red wire. Buy 2 new fusible links (autozone has them) and crimp them on the red wires,you will now have 2 large round terminals instead of the factory 1. Put both new fusible link terminals and the battery cable on the large solenoid stud.
You will not have yellow on your 76.
You should also have a black 14 (that is not shown in your pic) in that harness, it is a ground for the blower and wiper and has a large round terminal **** DO NOT PUT IT ON THE SOLENOID TERM along with the fusible links. It should go to the engine block for ground( i put it on 1 of the bellhousing bolts).
Hope this clears up the difference in 76 starter wiring.

note - the large black plastic cylinders are not the fusible links,the link is the wire.
Here is a thread about links. The link I posted a pic of is an inline link and has 2 plastic crimps.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...ble-links.html

 

If you have an HEI distributor the wiring is different.

 

Roger, thank you SO much for the detailed explenation! As a "rookie" in this world, I appreciate the detailed assistance! I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Just for clarification... The fusible link is actually the smaller wire in-between the two larger awg wires. The black cylinders are merely the insulated connector points for the wiring. That smaller wire will melt if the current load gets too high for the circuit. These fusible links are placed in high power circuits that are never expected to experience over-current situations...BUT when those circuits do fail, they can see extremely high current short circuit situations. Hence, the need for a seldom-needed "fail safe" circuit.