Who here uses what Starter and in what application.

My trusty Tilton left me near stranded twice last season in the staging lanes once in the semi-final round. I have not been able to pinpoint the reason, but it wasn't due to a weak battery or any ground connection. I did notice the post on the starter wiggles a little. I thought I tightened it but 6 weeks later it just loosened again.

At this pont I just feel like replacing it since it is 6 years old now and has done a lot of starting.

CVR, CSI, JEGS, etc....another Tilton?

Tom,
I use the GMPP mini starter. Not really sure who supplies them for GM but it's done a fine job so far.
Cranking compression is 210 lbs and I've got the timing locked at 37* with the MSD Starter Saver set at -10*. ;)

Get a Hitachi smile.gif

We put the XS Torque's by Powermaster on all the expsensive cars at work. Never had one fail in any way, they give lots of room for clearence, weight hardly anything, and they sound way cool! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I also use the XS Torque on my 454 and agree with 19 nova72

Buddy was telling me he uses the stock starter from a v6 blazer. Race only big block goin low 11's. Lasted 6 years so far!!!

i trust only gm steel nose starter ,i've own the rest and steel nose is by far the best

Tom, I took the stock rebuilt starter off my 454 and put it on the 505, I've never had problems with a stock starter with 10.5-1 comp. and no starter shield with headers of course. The guy that built my motor told me if this one quits to get a starter for a 97 chev pickup, I guess they are the smaller high torque starter. I have my ignition set at 16* initial,20 more in by 2200.

i thought i would share this about the stock gm mini starters......i have broke two of them in a row....it would be more my fault i guess but from a strength stand point they are not very strong imo.....i saw how cheap they was and bought one for my bbc it made it for about 10 starts and with one kick back it broke the nose clean off.......the company replaced it for free... it lasted for about 1 month and the motor just so happen to have another kick back while cranking and it sheared of the starter teeth inside........

i have had very good luck with the tilton or summit mini style starters.......they handle the abuse a lot better....imo....they have been doing very well and have held up to all the kick backs and so forth that sometimes happens......i have gone thru a few of the tilton style starters but not from breaking them but from wearing the brushes out completely.......

i just thought i would try the gm starter but i dont think they are stout enough for what im doing i guess.....so i went back to the tilton sytle starters.......but im sure they are fine on more stock engines that dont have a lot of comp. or a lot of initial timing.......

i'll tell ya thou if you can get over the weight factor of the high torque regular size starters they are great too......i could not believe it...but when i toasted my gm mini starter..i went and bought a stock one just so i could get it started and with 270 psi cranking compression and 14.9 to 1 motor it spun it over like it was nothing and fired up all the time.......i only replaced it because i wanted the lighter weight of the mini starter......

Tom,

CSI mini-starter has no problem with 39 degrees locked out timing 10:1 385, no problems starting throughout the season, and a few thousand miles of driving.

The CSI is a Hitachi type starter just like the Tilton. It weighs 1lb more then the tilton, the tilton has less clearance problems with the mounting block.

no problems with my CSI.
I've used the tilton, and was also impressed, and a GM starter that had trouble turning over my motor with locked out timing.

My suggestion, buy ethier a CSI or a Tilton, have the other Rebuilt, and use the rebuilt as a spare.

I have a mini I got from dbelectrical off of Ebay : http://www.dbelectrical.com/ They were brand new and the one on my 68 has lasted 5 years IIRC (still working great). I also got a new stock mini GM for my BB burb which is driven every day. Cool thing is a local place will rebuild them for $45(if/when I need it). My original burb starter was rebuilt earlier this year and running on a 56 chev pickup that eats starters. Has held up longer than any others and still going strong.

http://www.dbelectrical.com/ministarter/pm300.gif

That mini GM looks exactly like the original starter we just replaced in my son's '94 LT1 Firebird. So figure, 11 years, 54,000 miles and 3 different owners. Definitely not as light as the Powermaster I had put on the Chevelle but durable. Big issue on the Powermaster and other aftermarket is ability to rotate the starter for clearance. I know mine is installed inverted.

But your requirements are surely different than mine with your 540 motor.

I use a gm starter for a 454 from autozone. I have a 13:1 510. I think the starter is for a LS5 or whatever. The secret to good starter performance is the CCA of the battery, which should be 1000 to 950 and you will not have a problem. That and make sure you don't have a voltage drop from the battery to the starter and from the starter to the block.

A starter for a 1997 5.3 litre 1500 series pickup works well,they are permanant magnetic about $150. from a local rebuilder.

Thanks for the input everybody !!!