Bought an '86 Z28 with 305 TPI in febuary.
previous owner had changed the starter, so it is less than a year old (looks like it is true, judging from how the thing looks)

Tho, it gave up on me here the other day, so i bolted it off, and found this (see linked images). no wonder it couldnęt get a grip. But, anyone have any clue as to WHY this may have happened, i don't want to wreck another starter.
may naturally have been a material fault, but any clues is appreciated.

images:
Pic1
pic2

-Camarogeddon

 

You are the 2nd person in about a week to post with a cracked starter.

 

Without seeing the pics(they took too longTry..........
Wrong starter
Worng starter bolt
Bent starter bolt
Loose starter bolt
Dropped starter
Maybe even shims................

:lala:

 

Here is a condensed version for easy viewing.

 

second shot

 

most break cause the front mounts have been taken off and never replaced

 

most break cause the front mounts have been taken off and never replaced

 

Can't see the front of the starter, so I can't tell if it has the stud for the forward mount bracket or not. The previous owner may have put a starter on that didn't use a forward mount bracket when he replaced it.

 

may have been because of hardwear store bolts instead of starter bolts.

 

Hmmmm. Those pics look oh too familiar. I posted pics of my starter in a thread I started a little bit back. Mine turned out to be a shimming problem. (Or at least I hope it was a shim problem ) Believe it or not, after numerous starts it is possible for the stress of the starter gear going against the flywheel to crack the housing like that if not properly shimmed. I'm not saying that that is your problem but that was mine. After putting in some shims I haven't had a problem yet. Hope this helps. & Here's the thread if you wanna see my starter
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=237969

 

Is your timing ok? or did it backfire on startup? that can put enough torque on the starter to snap the head like that, especially if the brace on the back of the starter isn't there

 

hmm?

 

Bad alignment + cheap starter =




Get a good starter, follow the shimming directions that should come with the starter, and fix that oil leak and you should be fine for quite a while.

 

Thanks for replies, gave me a few ideas, and it looks like it may be a combination of factors, judging from what you guys say,
the main being that it wasn't shimmed, second: one of the bolts was an odd one, witch was about 1/3 inch too long, and the guy mounting it used a nut to space it out, and thirdly, when i studied the thing closer, there were markings from where the nut had pushed on the housing when the bolt had been tightened, same place where the crack runs. (see attached pic)

closeup of damage

Thanks for the clues.

-Camarogeddon

 

id be willing to say that the spacing that a previous person did to it with a nut is the majority of your problem go to the parts store and buy the right bolts and as said before shim it and you should be fine ...