We all know that full size starters and headers on SBC's don't mix. Another starter took a dump on me and I'm tired of going to Advance to trade it in on a new one (even though it's free ) . This time I just took it apart and rebuilt it. All of the contacts were pitted from arcing. But I put a heat shield on it in hopes of making this one last a little longer. I'm now taking bets on how long it will last. When this one goes, I'm definitely investing in a mini starter AND putting the heat shield on it BTW, they're hooker shorties.

 

I have Hedman Longtubes and when I put them on, I also put a heat blanket around my starter. I got the motor and everything put back together and in the car at the beginning of January and I am still using the same starter that I put in then. I went ahead and replaced it when I was putting the new motor in and the headers on, so that I didn't have to worry about it going out on me. Heat blankets are a good investment, especially on a SBC w/ headers.

 

I say get a CVR Protorque ministarter... They're relatively cheap compared to most other brands and it works great on my motor.

 

I'm approaching 3 yrs. with my headers and same stock starter, 1 yr. w/out heatshield cause it was a real pain, am I holding a gernade with a lit fuse?

 

gernades dont have burning fuses

holding a gernade with the pin out and the handle released would be a bit scary though






anyhoo, no. you're probly not. im not either.
the problem occurs when the heatsoak fromt he headers makes the starter work too hard to go. if the engine is milder, or the starter isnt being slowed from the heat, then it'll last just as long as it would otherwise.
its only when its being overstressed that it fails.

 

yeah, but it sounded really bad no matter how else I wrote it. I guess the horse was already dead.

 

I solved my heat soak problem with my SLP headers by using a Mini-Starter. That was over two year ago and I am using the one from Summit. The heat shield is a bandaid fix and is a pain in the butt to install.

 

Went bad on me already. Monday I put in a new a/c delco and as soon as I got home after a 20 min. drive and tried to start it and nothing Heat sheild on it too. I got a mini starter from a buddy but it needs to be rebuilt so as soon as I get it fixed I'm gonna try that with the blanket. We'll see.

 

I just used the Mini_Starter with great results, best cure for Heat Soak from Headers.