So I got a starter from Canadian Tire yesterday...told them exactly what my car was...tried to put it on today, and it wouldn't fit. So I compared the new and the old, and it looks like they gave me the wrong one - the new one has a larger shroud covering the gear, and support bracket bolt is in the wrong place, and the whole starter is longer too.

I called back and they got me to read off the part number, and said it was for automatic transmissions, I need a different part for my manual tranny.

I'd like to ditch this enormous chunk of metal and go with an LT1 style mini-starter, but I want to make sure it will fit before I get this one exchanged. The LT1 starter models are the same for both manual and automatic. So if I get an LT1 starter, will it be the right size for the T5, or will it be the same as the auto model I need to return?

One other quick question - is there anyway to figure out the shimming besides trial and error? Just seems like a royal pain in the *** to do it that way.

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(yes, I searched and read many a post before starting this thread)

 

Yes.

No, not really. Unfortunately, all you can do, is put it on and see how it fits, and add or remove shims accordingly.

 

thanks, the quick reply is very much appreciated...LT1 starter ordered!