just trashed my 2nd stock stlye starter... they usually last me around 3-4 months then i crack them so bad they are useless... i tried using a mini starter but for whatever reason it wouldn't stay shimmed properly. last winter i reinstalled the motor and made sure i had the starter properly shimmed and about a month later it was grindin away. it was however i cheap one off ebay. i don't know the compression of my motor... i didn't build the bottom end. but what starters are you guys using and having sucess with? i know if i get another mini starter it's nearly impossible to check the clearances between the teeth in the car (i have a T56) and if i don't get it shimmed right it will eat my teeth up. what do you suggest i do? i think i have a lifetime warranty on the one i just broke but i def. don't feel like installing starters every few months...

i know my compression isn't too high... not much higher above stock if anything

 

Have you checked the flywheel? You might have a problem in that area. If you're shimming correctly, even a stock starter should be fine unless you have a lot of compression in the block. Since the starter has been changed more than once, I'd say it's time to start looking elsewhere for the problem.

 

Most of the time a stock starter will not require any shims. The only ones I have cracked (a couple) are the stock L69 starters. Hi-torque but in a poorly designed housing. The best starter I have used is the factory L98 TPI 350 one. Big heavy ***** but it does work very well. If you're cracking these, you have other problems. As far as mini starters go, they are designed to require a couple of shims. I've used TCI ones and they all require 2 shims (around .030"-.040") on a stock block. I agree with iroczracer07 on the flywheel being a potential issue.

A good starter should work fine for years, unless the bolts are backing out or the flywheel is messed up (you should hear the whine is that is the problem).

 

yeah i'm pretty stumped... just to give a little more info on my setup i have a SPEC billet steel flywheel. what kind of problems could i have with the flywheel that would be ruining starters? or in some cases the starter ruining teeth. to me it seems like the starter housings are cheap. if i could get something that had something a lot stronger maybe i'd be alright...

thats what i was lookin for lo-tec... i'm more tempted to use a mini starter if i know a known method of install that works good. maybe i should go that route...

and i'm usually pretty good with feeling weird vibrations or hearing funny noises... and i haven't felt or heard anything from the flywheel area that would make me think something with the flywheel isn't right.

 

Get a good quality rebuilt one. The housings you are cracking are re-used, not new. Your spec flywheel has nothing to do with it. I have one, and the same starter that spun a different flywheel spins this one just fine. The cheap mini-starter way is to use a 92-up LT1 starter. Gear reduction unit, lite-weight, no shims required (that's what I'm using now and NO problems). Score a used factory unit off of ebay cheap and report your results.

 

I'm curious about the starter teeth being ruined. Are you also seeing damage to the flywheel? Not trying to say you're an idiot or anything else, but are you sure you have the right flywheel? You said you're using a spec flywheel. I'm assuming that by spec, you mean an aftermarket flywheel from B&M or another company. If that's the case, I'm just wondering how you arrived at the conclusion that this flywheel was the one to use.

 

no SPEC is a company that makes clutches and so forth. i bought the whole clutch setup from them including their flywheel listed for 93-97LT1's (i have a T56 out of a 97)

 

I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but did you compare the original flywheel to the Spec flywheel? The reason I'm asking is because I'm wondering if the teeth were correctly spaced and maybe that's why you're chewing up starter ring gears and grinding even with a new starter. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe the block surface where the starter mounts might be uneven enough to **** the starter, so to speak. Aftermarket starters usually have shorter starter drive gear housings, which makes shimming necessary. Sometimes the shims are in an excessive amount. So either the starter isn't shimmed enough, the flywheel is the wrong one, or your deck surface is uneven (dirt or caked on grease maybe). These are the only reasons I can think of that make any sense. The fault can't be in the starter itself because you're killing to many of them. Some of which are mini-starters designed to crank over a high compression mill.

 

yeah i remember my mini starter when i shimmed it with the motor out of the car it needed like a whole pack of shims. which ended up bein like 1/4-1/2 inch worth of shims. i can double check the mounting surface...

"The reason I'm asking is because I'm wondering if the teeth were correctly spaced and maybe that's why you're chewing up starter ring gears and grinding even with a new starter"

just a correction with that. i had chewed up the ring gear teeth on the flywheel itelf... starter was fine. and stock style starters work great for 5-6 months usually then will start sounding like they are struggling to turn it over... then will crack and be completely shot.

 

which means it wasn't shimmed properly. You should have a gap large enough to stick in a large paper clip when you pull the bendix out of the starter into the flywheel teeth (.035"-.050").

 

yeah first time i installed it in teh car and i know it wasn't shimmed properly... didn't know at the time tho. it ate the teeth. i put new teeth on and shimmed it with the motor out of the car and i used a regular paperclip to shim it... i wouldn't say it was large... more like the medium sized ones. worked good for a few months then started eatin teeth again

 

Specs on aftermarket starters are .035"-.050" (which is a large paper clip). You can hear by the noise it makes when it isn't right...either too tight or too loose. Shim it right and you should never have an issue with it eating the teeth on the flywheel.