i have an 87 350 i'm going to be putting in in place of an old 283. could i use the same starter i have on the 283 on the 350?

does the 87 350 have the bigger flexplate?

 

The flywheel on a later model 350 is the smaller 153 tooth flywheel/flexplate. Is the bolt pattern on the later model starter the same as your 283 block? Not sure.

 

do you think it will cause any header clearance issues?

 

only 2 bolt patterns on sbc starters, straight and angled. doesn't take anything more than a quick look to see what you have

 

the 350 is angled, would the 283 be angled or straight? i forgot what it was.

 

That's sorta the "gotcha" looking at early vs. late engines. Even though the later 305s/350s often used the smaller 153 tooth flexplate/flywheel they had a starter that used the staggered bolt pattern.

On EARLY engines it was a simple relationship..... 153 tooth = straight bolt pattern starter; 168 tooth = staggered bolt pattern.

With the later engines this gets muddy. The thing that MIGHT save you here is that the 283 might be dual-patterend (drilled for both stright and staggered starter bolt patterns) in which case you bolt on a 153 tooth flywheel/flexplate and the starter off the later motor and away you go. MAYBE. If not, you're going to end up buying a new starter.