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Trying to track a starting problem on a 74 350 car. What is the purpose of the relay(?) on the evap housing that says starter on it? There is a hole in it, was there a button there? The wire that runs to the " start " side of the solenoid was burned and someone ran a new wire to it and back through the firewall. Still haven't traced that yet. Is this just a normal relay or is there more to it. The inside looks just like other relays of that era. Thanks. BTW, three auto parts stores couldn't even find it in their computers.
Here is a paste from another thread.
The relays are no longer available.
Originally Posted by Xterrable
Ahhh, you are very right! Now that I saw other pics, it sure is the seatbelt relay..
I want to remove it or just move it to another location. I am trying to clean up the engine bay and it looks silly... So my car starts fine. No seat belt needed. Can I remove it?? And if so, what can I do, snip the wires off and take it off the firewall?
Since it starts, does that mean it was already bypassed??
If you don't care about original looks, remove the orange mount, solder the green and purple wires together, heat shrink and tape it up into the harness.
If you want to keep it, follow the pics to bypass and no one can tell.
I wouldn't butcher a possibly good and pricey relay.
2025 c3 ('74-'82) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2019 C3 of Year Finalist (appearance mods)
Bad idea!
For model year 1974 the government wanted everyone to buckle up before the car would start so all 74's and some early 75's had this feature but public out cry killed that plan fast.
If the seat belt interlock failed you could open the hood and press the button which would bypass the system.
There are a few ways to eliminate the system, you can connect the wires at the relay, as shown in the diagram or slide the seats forward and open the connector.
Regards, Pete.
Thanks guys. That orange thing is exactly what I got. Will probably solder the wires together. The button is missing off mine. Then I can get back to why someone added that blue wire that fits on the starter solenoid, it was hacked in there.