How hard is it to swap out the starter on an 88 convert 305 tbi?Looks like you remove a metal cover then the two bolts to the starter and it should drop down. Any advice.

 

disconnect the negative on the battery first, otherwise you're working with hot wiring, and you could weld your wrench onto the starter.... (guess how I know that?)

other then that you're fine.

 

(At least in the old days) starters had to be shimmed on installation - follow the directions with the starter to shim it to proper clearances - otherwise your getting too much or too little starter teeth in contact with the flywheel, and could break the flywheel. It's not hard to do, not to scare you, just a reminder that it is (or used to be in the old days) important.

 

Clearances should be checked anyways and shimmed as needed anyway.

 

No one mentioned it takes a freaking hour to get the starter out of it's tight space after all wires and bolts are undone.

 

It IS possible to get the starter down from above the Y-Pipe, but its going to take some finesse. That is probably the hardest part. All you do is disconnect the negative battery cable, take off the wires from the starter that are attached to it (remember their order, idk if it matters but just be safe), drop out two bolts, take out starter...DONT DROP IT ON YOUR FACE! These things are an easy 20lbs and WILL do some damage. The installation is the reverse process, just be mindful of the shimming. Start it up and check to see if it works, be quick to shut her off if something doesnt seem right though. My issue was that the gear from the starter was too FAR from the flywheel...basically it needed to be REVERSE shimmed, meaning there was just a flaw in the design of it. I had to take it out, return it, and put the new one in. That one worked fine.

These shouldn't be too much either. My AC Delco starter was 15$ after a Core trade in of my old one, which had a value of 15$. Autozone will hook you up.

Good luck man.

 

Help guys. Been trying for hours and can't get the new starter back in above the y pipe. If I loosing the two nuts at the y pipe (connector just above the starter) will it drop down a little bit? Or will doing this cause a big exhaust leak when I go to tighting them up after the starter is in?

 

You SHOULD be able to squeeze it in there, I did it with a 3" aftermarket pipe. If not, yes, you can unbolt the ypipe from the exhaust manifold, and that should give you some clearance. Just make sure you dont break those bolts off, they are probably rusted and **** from being so old, so use some PB Blaster if need be.