[ratlover]

Anyone ever had a starter snout break off? I have a 454 that I have rebuilt and broken in without any mechanical problems. The starter was a brand new bosch unit with the offset bolt pattern. The car is a standard. the flywheel dialed true with no excessive runout. The teeth on the flywheel do have some wear, but not excessively. I am using a lakewood 15000 scattershield. wondering if you have to use an aftermarket bellhousing mount starter or something. Built a lot of engines, never had this happen before.... would a shim on the starter remedy this or make it worse? any suggestions?

[Jmark]

I've heard of a few breaking off, but never had one myself. About all I can think is it was "just one of those things". The force of the bendix gear slamming against the bushing on the nose piece probably just caught up with a small flaw in the casting. Sounds like warrantee time! LOL

Mark

[poncho62]

I have heard of quite a few housings breaking on rebuilt Chevy starters lately, small and big block.....cheap offshore parts, from what I understand.

[ratlover]

Damn,
just when I went through painstaking efforts and spared no expense! I put a kicked out moroso oil pan and hooker supercomps, so to get the starter out I have to take off the entire scattershield,clutch and flywheel assembly. You guys dont think that there may be less lateral support allowing side deflection when using a scattershield? the starter kind of ground horrendously twice when trying to start it before I heard the snap. I have noticed that stock bellhousings kind of "hug" the snout of the starter a little more. Thanks for the input by the way. Any thoughts on shimming as a solution?

[87442lover]

Originally posted by ratlover
Anyone ever had a starter snout break off? I have a 454 that I have rebuilt and broken in without any mechanical problems. The starter was a brand new bosch unit with the offset bolt pattern. The car is a standard. the flywheel dialed true with no excessive runout. The teeth on the flywheel do have some wear, but not excessively. I am using a lakewood 15000 scattershield. wondering if you have to use an aftermarket bellhousing mount starter or something. Built a lot of engines, never had this happen before.... would a shim on the starter remedy this or make it worse? any suggestions?

Use to work at advance, saw alot of returned starters with broken housings and the like. Never had one break on me though.

[Jared]

87 how did you like it there? i work there too. dont know how long im going to stay though i dont like my boss at all,he is lazyyy

while im here, id check your timing, alot of time if it kicks back from timing it will take out the starter nose, or shimming might play a part in it, try to get a new one on warranty. (worth a shot)

[Robinson Robin]

Originally posted by 87442lover
Use to work at advance, saw alot of returned starters with broken housings and the like. Never had one break on me though.

Maybe this qualifies you as an authority on engines

[87442lover]

Originally posted by Robinson Robin
Maybe this qualifies you as an authority on engines

Knock it off robin!

Originally posted by Jared
87 how did you like it there? i work there too. dont know how long im going to stay though i dont like my boss at all,he is lazyyy

while im here, id check your timing, alot of time if it kicks back from timing it will take out the starter nose, or shimming might play a part in it, try to get a new one on warranty. (worth a shot)

I quit there awhile back to take up a corporate job. It was okay, but my boss was a real #($*#$@

[Mr. Green]

Timing is everything, I had that happen to me once and the timing was too advanced.

[blown81]

This may be irrelevant, because it sounds as though you went through this engine pretty well, but I broke two starters on my 350 before I got smart and replaced the starter bolts with new GMs. The old bolts showed no sign of wear, but I haven't broke a starter since.

- Stan

[dollybud]

Ratlover, I assume you have the broken nose piece. Does it show any sign of rubbing against anything? Also when you installed it was it harder than usual to align the mounting bolts? Take it to an alternator-starter rebuilder and see if he can change the outer casing. In my opinion shimming won't help, but then again it might be worth a try. Use new GM bolts, and check using the paper clip. You could go to high output mini torque. Just my .02. Let us know, as it seems very few ever do anymore. Ponch could be right too, cheap parts even in a supposedly good brand name!

[sbchevfreak]

did your old starter have a small bracket on the back of the motor housing? if it did you might have to make sure it's on. sometimes (especially if you've got a huge cam and lots of vibration) the starter will flex and the heavy motor end is only supported by the two bolts holing the whole shebang on. then the DE housing snaps like a twig! used to see it on motorhomes with big blocks and the 6.2 diesel all the time if that bracket was off.

[poncho62]

The starter that they had on big block trucks and some hi-perf applications back in the late 60s - early 70s, had 3 bolts in the housing, plus the other bracket in the front end. Not realavent here, but I just remembered it.

[4 Jaw Chuck]

If you sneeze the engine at startup it can take the nose off, usually a little less timing will help..2 or 3 degrees might make all the difference. I would still look closely at your mounting arrangement and check the bendix engagement to make sure it does not need shims or even hole slotting to make it fit right.

It wouldn't be the first scattershield that gets drilled and welded for alignment purposes.

[Pony]

I would look into the support bracket mentioned 3 posts up. Most GM factory big blocks before the emission motors had them to keep the starter from flexing under hard cranking loads. It attached to one of the thru bolts that holds the starter together. The bolt had a 1" x 1/4 -20 threaded section extending out from the bolt head. Two types of brackets attached to this ( a tube twisted 90* and a stamped metal bracket) it was about 4" long and bolted to the side of the block. Small block Vett motors use this set up also. I have it on my 74- 350. and it really helps.