The starter in my 91 Formula 350 has been doing a slow burn for the last 5 years. I'm finally tired of it, so here begins the saga... I've got three starters. The original starter out of the car, a new in the box aftermarket starter purchased for a 91 305 TBI, and the starter that came off my 86 LB9 T/A. Obviously the original starter isn't going back in. The starter for the L03 is cosmetically different but the nose cone and mounting looks identical. The solenoid connections are identical etc, except the body of the starter is about 1/2" shorter and the solenoid uses a steel wrap around clamp rather than two flanges with retaining bolts. The 86 T/A starter is identical in every way to the L98 starter.

So, are 305 and 350 starters the same starters?

 

Thanks for the quick replies...

FWIW the 86 T/A starter is on the car and works fine... I think the parts store starter would have been fine also, but I didn't feel like chancing it and I can save it for the 305 that's going in my 3.1L Firebird.

 

Sorry - a lot of us can't do much surfing from work during the day.

The one thing I found out on starters when doing my 383 swap is the gear on the starter is apparently different if you're using a manual vs. an automatic because of differnet flywheel/flexplate differences in size and the number of teeth.

Glad you got it going.

Have a Great DaY!



- Vern

 

One difference between the L03 and LB9/L98 starters is that the L03 did not require a forward mount bracket like the LB9/L98 does.

 

I hadn't thought about the forward bracket issue...

The reason this starter didn't go back in the 86 T/A with the 350 was an issue with the flywheel. The flywheel I got with the engine required a staggered bolt pattern starter.