Starter Wire Question

[BillinSC]

So, for whatever reason, on the new to me '73 CB 750K3, There is a length of smaller gauge battery wire bridging the gap between the end of the original starter wire (4 or 6 gage) to the starter solenoid (connected with a short bolt and wrapped in electrical tape). It looks to be 8 or 10 gauge and there is evidence that it got hot (as you'd expect). Obviously this is no bueno and I want to remedy it.

Question(s):
1) Why would the original wire be too short to be routed to the solenoid properly? Wrong part? It looks original but honestly can't tell if it might have been repaired/shortened in the past for some reason. Maybe the current starter was intended for a different model?
2) It appears as though the original wire is integral to the starter motor and a fixed length but haven't dug into it too deeply yet. Can someone confirm that for me? It would be nice if I could just make a new wire of the proper length.
3) Short of replacing a working motor, my only other option is to splice in a length of correct gauge wire to bridge the gap for a temporary solution.

Any thoughts would be appreciated
Thanks!

 

[dirtdigger]

post picture please, hard to say without seeing whats going on

 

[BillinSC]

Here's a picture of the shade tree mechanic work I'm trying to resolve/improve.

 

[dirtdigger]

It is definitely quite a bit shorter than it should be. It looks like a factory wire end though. Maybe it was shortened inside the starter at some point as they can go bad right where the wire comes through the starter.