LSH77VETTE

I just replaced the starter on my son's 1975. I purchased a remanufactured starter from Autozone. This is an exact replacement starter. The paperwork that came with the starter indicated that it may be necessary to use shims with the starter in order to create the right gap between the flywheel and starter gear.

I installed the starter and the car starts fine, but I am hearing a slight clang noise right as the car starts. Does this mean I need to add shims or am I just being paranoid after reading about the possible need for shims?. The original starter didn't have shims and this replacement is dimensionally an exact match. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

69Vett

you need to verify the correct starter pinion gear clearance to the flywheel.
you will need to remove the flywheel cover to do this, it is tight and hard to get up in there and see,
correct clearance is 1 paper clip in-between the extended starter gear,
and the flywheel. .... or you can guess if it is right,
from your description it sounds like it does need some additional shim to provide the proper clearance.

LSH77VETTE

Thanks for your reply 69Vette. Any suggestions on how best to get the gear on the starter pushed into the flywheel to check the gap? Thanks

69Vett

you want to replicate the starter pinion gear engaging into the flywheel.
reach into the starter nose with a straight screwdriver, and push the starter gear back to the rear of car,
it should slide very easy into engagement position, hold it there, to check clearance gap with flywheel,
when you release the gear the spring will suck it back into the starter.
If you need a shim the gear may hang on the flywheel slightly, thats Probable your clanging noise.
good luck !

C3Hawk

Depending on your point of view, you might find it easier to paint/mark the gear and check the pattern. Remove, paint, install, test, remove and check pattern. Here's a video about it:

LSH77VETTE

Thanks for the info guys. I'll check this out tonight once I get home from work.

Pete79L82

It is much easier to just put a couple of shims in and see if the noise goes away. You don't have to remove the starter or try to pry the starter drive out or any thing else.

Loosen both starter bolts, remove the outer bolt, slide one or two shims in place (shim is slotted for inner bolt), replace outer bolt, tighten both bolts, done. 5 minute job. Will take longer to get the car in the air than to put in the shims. If the noise goes away your done.

If you need to use more than 4 shims, I would return the starter for a different one. I have encountered rebuilt starters that use a nose casting from overseas, and while it may look identical to the original the machine work is not correct.

68Thunder427

Loosen the bolts a little bit install one shim, re tighten the bolts and give it a whirl. I you still hear the noise install the second shim same as above and give it a whirl. Neither or the block or starter surfaces were ever true and therefore the requirement of the shims. The main thing is that you do not want the gap to be to tight and end up eating the teeth off the flywheel and ruining starters. More than 2 shims and you need to return the starter IMHO.