[Schurkey]

Perhaps a moderator will move this to "Electrical".

I've rebuilt more than my share of old-style 10-MT starters. I have a parts cabinet filled with brushes, shift-forks, bushings, leather washers, etc. I suggest the 5-roller starter drives rather than the cheaper 4-roller units supplied in "rebuild kits". Rebuild kits also don't come with the shift forks, and the shift forks are always worn. Either buy another, or weld 'n' grind the fork where it wears on the drive.

Might as well open-up the solenoid, and polish the copper disc and copper contacts, too. Don't break the phenolic cap on the solenoid.







Having said all that, as soon as it warms-up a few degrees, I'm going to drop the 10-MT on my pickup, and install a PG-260 "Delco Mini-Starter". Mine's a rebuilt Delco, not a Communist knock-off. Yes, I'll use the PG-specific knurled starter bolts. Ordinary knurled bolts don't fit the starter housing properly. And if I like the mini-starter, the 'Camino will get one, too.

 

[the heckler]

fwiw.. my 10.7:1 - 496 motor uses an autozone starter specified for a early 90's chevy pickup with 7.4 L. It is a gear reduction unit, has a lifetime warranty and is small. also use a moroso aluminum heat shield specified for a tilton type starter... absolutely no issues. the shield is slightly modified to work but much better a thermal wrap... this ol' po' boy down here has to make it happen without a lot of fluff....

 

[BlueSS454]

FWIW,my 1970 SS454 LS6 car has no issues with a stock,oem replacement starter.

Me too. Just rebuild your original if it needs it.

 

[LeoP]

JMHO, the reason for the PMGR starter is weight reduction and most likely made offshore too. MT-10 for me too.

 

[72ragtop]

When my MT-10 started acting up when hot replaced it with a GMPP PMGR starter and never looked back. I personally don't like the mini starters with no outer pinion support, and would never use one. Lot easier on the arms installing the PMGR, and tons more clearance to the headers.

 

[langss]

Long long ago in a Galaxy Far Far away a 20 something Kid who just had to have "Headers" on his 396 Chevelle drove to the Super Shops in San Bernardino and bought a set of headers they had on sale. They were on the car in a couple of days and are still there as we speak. That was 1972. No heat shield and stock starter. Never had so much as a hickup. Of course those headers are rusted out and leaky as a sieve, but the point is that starter was on the car from the day the car rolled off the assembly line until the Bendix died and was only off the car for the header install before that. When I finally get to working on the old rust bucket, the headers have to come off to rebuild the control arm bushings, so maybe I will consider a heat shield to add to my 60's technology, but the original style starter will go back on after everything is back in the car. I'm all for "Reliability", and everybody needs to do whatever it takes to make it reliable. Heat Shield or Mini Starter or any combination that keeps you off the side of the road with the hood up. That my friends is the bottom line.

 

[71350SS]

If the O/P is looking to get away from hot re-start type problems and also save some weight Chevy uses this type of gear reduction starter

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/260379439377-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

on a lot of their later model cars and trucks.While it doesn't look like a gear reduction piece,if you remove the nose off one of these late models you'll find a planetary set that runs right off the starter's motor.You'll find them on 454's,4.3L V6's,Corvette 5.7L and plenty of other OE jobs.Rebuilt they run about $50-80 and are plentiful in the boneyards too.Lots of people use them and swear by them and they come in the angled bolt pattern so the fit the 168 tooth flywheels found on BB's.

 

[Schurkey]

 

[Tod74]

If the car is stock go with the original style, if it's a hot rod with high compression buy a high performance starter. On a stock engine a stock starter is fine.

 

[71350SS]

The original factory 8418 (manual tranny) and 8430 (auto tranny) starters will crank any engine over easily. NEVER get rid of one of those starters or you will regret it.

The stock high torque starters work better and much longer than a gear reduction starter. I've never had any hot start problems with my 8418 starter. It has performed perfectly for 46 years. Why replace it with something inferior?

While I totally agree on the opinion/recommendation of the high torque starter and have 2 of my own that are on my 396 and my SB406.But on the 454+ that I'm building I'll be using the kind of starter I posted a picture of in my last post,mostly for weight savings.
But there is one thing that hasn't been discussed here,perhaps the OP, Margs21X doesn't have a high torque starter.That could possibly be the reason he is having starter problems in the first place.Finding out what he's using right now might help if he posted a picture or posted up the starter's numbers.Just a thought.