Hey all,

I have a starter that appears to be overheating. The car starts great when cold, but when hot it either starts clicking and starts slow or does nothing, half hour of sitting and it will fire right up. The car has headers, good electrical wiring, new yellow top optima battery and I replaced the starter after it started doing this and it did not fix it. I don't really want to go into the whole remote solenoid and crap, also heard wraping the headers wont help much either. I would like to keep it as stock as possible. The odd thing is, the car was fine and just started doing this all of the sudden. What the heck?

5.0 TPI
T-5 trans

 

If you remove the operating piston in the solenoid, is it clean and free of burrs/gum/residue? Also, you might consider fabricating an aluminum heat shield between the starter and the headers.

 

need to check the battery cables real good,sub out with
known good if needed-even if they look good they could
still be bad.i had this exact problem with my '69 camaro
-had to upgrade the solenoid wiring to 12 GA.,3rd gen
has better wiring than '69,so the ford solenoid crutch
probably won't help on a 3rd

 

i know you said you want to keep it stock as possible, but you may have to consider a mini starter, had the same problem a month after installing headers, went with a mini starter and no problems since

 

Odds are it's your solenoid

 

Had a 73 Chevelle w/ headers that had same issue. Replaced battery cable and had no problem for a couple months. Sold it later on, so don't know if that was the actual culprit though.

 

Replace the starter solenoid. (Your headers ate it) Install a starter heat wrap.
Clean both ends of both the + and - ground battery cables. You must have clean tight battery and ground connections.
Make sure the engine block is also grounded to the body (firewall) of the car. (don't ask, just do it)
Install a dash mounted 15A rated SPST spark interupt toggle switch on the 12v+ power wire on the HEI distributor. When hot, crank the engine over with the spark disabled 1-2-3, then throw the switch and it will fire up easily without starter strain.
Doubles as a cool anti theft device.
Next time you replace the starter, get one for a 1969 427 corvette HD and swap on your origional SBC starter nose cone. Be sure to re-install the OEM factory rear starter mount bracket brace. Do not leave it off.