chevy starters

please help, i have a 454 and a small block 400 both motors are really giving me starter alignment problems-i have tried to us the shims allmost everyway possible-full shims,half shims-thick,thin but cant get either one to not sound really bad or eat theflywheel up.400 alreay needs flywheel {second one}454 is original,400 is rebuilt-anybody have the answer ?

[raceman6135]

I don't know about anyone else on this board, but I've NEVER used shims on any of my V-8 Chevrolet starters!

I used to test-install the starters without the solenoids installed. That way, you can move the starter drive back and forth without having to engage the starter with the key. This allows you to check the mesh and fit of the drive gear with the ring gear/flexplate before starting the entire thing up.

There should be about a paperclip's thickness between the gears. Also make sure that the drive gear moves freely on the end of the armature and that the washer/spacer is between the end of the gear and the end of the nose of the starter. If not, the gear could be travelling too far, causing engagement problems.

Good luck!

DJS

I wouldn't recommend shims. They are hard to align. Try it without the shims and see what it does. The eating of the teeth on the flywheel is usually caused by using shims. The shims dont let enough "bite" on the flywheel causing a slip and a ruined flywheel.

I agree with Wiley's Farm. On my Chevy Camaro I have never used shims and I've never had a problem. Hope it works for ya.

[mikey]

I once managed a starter rebuilding shop and saw this a lot of this in 350 chevy and we made good money fixing this problem because most people could not fix them. Most people would try to shim but the starter drive was already to far away.You need to file the starter housing to move the drive closer to the flywheel. It is easy to do but most people would not think of it. Good Luck.

[Blake Baldwin]

This is most likly to late for you now. but you are much better off to have your starter rebuilt and put the orginal back on the motor, you will get a better starter because the local guy building your starter will want your future business and do a better job for you than some guy in a different state who has to put together so many starters a hour so his boss can sell them to autozone. by the way notice that the factory does not use shim on starters. try not using any and if that still doesn't work, try another starter that has not been cobbled up.