hi. well i just rebuilt the top end of my 305 engine. i put a new holley intake and a new holley 4 barrel carb. also new plugs, wires, ignition module, performance cap, rotor and performance coil. i also got rid of all the egr stuff and some pretty useless vacuum lines.
oh, yeah this is an 87 trans am. with the 305 small block and stock automatic tranny. after the rebuild i went to start her and she barely turned over. so i went i pulled the starter and went to a.z. they looked up my part and brought it out. it was the right, wrong part i guess. it was the same starter but it was a little bigger, though the gear was the same size. so i had them look up the starter for a manual tranny. it matched the one i pulled off my car. so i got that one, since i wasnt sure if the other one (being a little bigger) would fit.
i get the starter in and she starts right up better than she ever has (also runs better than she ever has). but when i shut her off and try to start her hot she cranks slow and kinda hard i guess, for about 20 seconds then she starts to crank over at normal speed and fires up and runs beautiful.
im not sure why i have a starter for a 87 t/a with a manual tranny, idk if someone changed the engine or if its the wrong starter.
so what i am wondering is, if someone did put an engine in that is from a car with a manual tranny can i put the other starter for an auto tranny in? and is the starter for a auto tranny more powerful than the starter for the manual tranny since it is a little bigger? i tested the battery, it is fine. im just thinking that the engine has more compression now and maybe that starter isn't strong enough, or could my valves be to tight? though today i started her hot and she almost started up normally. maybe this problem will just fix itself?
thank you for reading this! any info on this would be great. also this is my first post so i am really excited to see how this goes! i would also like to say that i really love these forums, i have found so much interesting and useful information on here. thank you again

 

you r having the same issue as i am.i changed everythng i could until i found out about vapor locking,its pretty much the gas turns into vapor before the liquid can reach the carb. the fuel line usually runs along the back fire wall of the engine were its hottest at and yakes the longest to cool s gas never really stays liquid and u have to hold the crank until it sucks enoug fluid back thru to fire her up. my issue with it is engine coling geeting a better radiator and the fact that i have a mechenical fuel pump instead of an electric.if it is infact your fuel line getting to hot a hot rod secret is to put wooden close pins between the wall and the line,they absord heat and expand the the line further away from the hot spot for even flow.hope this helps you

 

but would vapor lock make the engine hard to turn over? its like its stuck, or taking more force than normal to turn, so it goes real slow. kinda hard to explain.

 

if the car won't fire, then it could be vapor lock.
But if it simply cranks slowly, then it's electrical related.

- Make sure your positive battery wire is good (good connections on both ends).
- Make sure the battery negative to ENGINE BLOCK is a good connection.

How much base timing are you running? More = harder to start. I have a switch wired to my ignition system to turn off the ignition until I crank the engine over. Works like a damn. You might need to back off your initial timing.

 

well i think i fixed it, i retarded the timing just a little bit, that seems to have done the trick. its been a couple days and haven't had that hard hot start problem.