Put a 70s era 350 in and it only has the staggered bolt pattern. No 153 tooth starter will fit because the snout hits the bellhousing. I need some advice here. 91 RS with the wct5

 

Use a snout-less mini-starter if the snout is the problem. Beware that 70's blocks can have The Starter Bolt Alignment Problem. Wherein no amount of shimming will fix the starter gear alignment and they will eat starters just because 70's garbage GM machining.

I really enjoy my Meziere TS400DP. No snout on it, and dual bolt pattern. Beast of a starter. I believe they also make staggered models.

*EDIT* - seems like that's a lost cause. You can't find a starter that's for the small 153 tooth flywheel with a staggered bolt pattern. That wasn't a thing. So you need a 168 tooth flywheel.

GD

 

168 flywheel won't fit in the T5 bell without some effort, which I wouldn't recommend. There's pic on a thread somewhere here showing one hacked up.

drill and tap the starter bolt hole you need. I suspect you'll find no other option.

 

OR - just stop using 70's garbage blocks.

GD

 

Am I still a hater if I point out this is one of the many reasons not to build 60s-70s engines?

 

There IS no starter like that. I've typed why so many times I'm tired of it.

Take it back out and add this hole. Then use any starter for 12.8" flywheel.



That's about a 73 or 74 400 block that I did it to in the pic.

 

All blocks prior to '96 Vortec are dead to me. I think you're in the clear.

GD

 

I don't miss the lakes of oil on the driveway, in the garage, etc... Multi-piece pan gaskets and main seals. Or cork valve cover gaskets... Don't miss engines and transmissions so caked in grease and dirt that they're just constantly oozing. Starters that don't fit, dipsticks that hit the manifolds... Just not worth messing with old engines.