Hi all,

Had a problem today at a car show. Had to move the elky from the spot i was in and the starter was grinding and very noisy and didnt start the motor. Someone said I needed to add shims to it but i already have .010 thickness of shims on it now. The starter motor is a brand new unit (not reman'd) AC Delco Starter which is no more than a month or two months old. I decided to let the car sit till the end of the show which was about 5 hrs long. When I did start the elky again, it was not as noisy but still noisier than what it should be. Fortunatly it started. Can anyone help me with how you properly shim or get the correct amount of shimming for the starter? I want to try and make it to the all chevy show in mahwah, nj this coming sunday but dont want to chance it with this starter giving me probs. I have tomorrow off to work on the elky but that is it for the rest of the week. Any help would be appreicated.

Thanks,

Check your starter bolts had a problem like that a few years ago and all that was wrong was the starter bolts were loose. Maybe you will be lucky.

Also check the solenoid bolts to the starter...mine were loose last month (actually one had fallen out altogether) starts fine now.

Ok, sounds like some good suggestions. Hopefully it will be that simple to fix. I will get on it today and let everyone know how I made out.

I stopped in at an Auto Zone store in St. Pete to buy a set of starter shims and the counter guy gave them to me. There was an instruction sheet in the package about how to set the shims. If it worked OK before, though, I think the other guys are probably right, that it's a loose bolt. Don't have any idea why they come loose, but they do.

bolts were tight when i took it out. the starter gear was just starting to get rough on the ends but the teeth on the fly wheel were in good shape. I swapped out the old starter with the new starter and the old starter seemed fine, just that it bound up when the solenoid got hot. That was the whole reason why I swapped out the old one in the first place. Anyone know anywhere that has a starter motor CORRECT heat shield for a 70 elky with a SS 396 motor? That might be the cure to my problems. Universal heat shields do not fit correctly and keep falling off or hitting the motor or exhaust manifold. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian