VetteNY

I have a 1969 corvette with a 427/390 engine. Its that time of year again with hot temperatures that are creating restart "drag" on my starter. What is the best starter out there that provides reliable high torque starting that will match the engine? Appreciate any feedback from those who have been in the situation before with "hot soak" starting problems with big blocks.

Ironcross

A quality OEM style starter is your best bet. By the way, that "heat soak" , no such animal in the real world. Try touching just about anything under the hood and its HOT. Bench racers that have other problems with either the charging or cranking systems are suckers for that terminology trying to improve the Generals tried and true parts. The only thing that kills a starter is low cranking voltage that results in extremely internal heat burning the starter up. Make sure you purchase a HD cast iron nose quality starter after your system is fully checked:

PS watch what happens now from those mini starter lovers.

TheSkunkWorks

I'm not going to argue with anything above, but if you find that you just have to have an aftermarket starter, I'd definitely check here first...

http://www.tiltonracing.com/content.php?page=lists

AKRAY4PLAY

stock works, but aftermarket is better. i personally like the mini starters for two reasons. weight reduction and more cranking force for less amps. the reason starters have heat issues is resistence goes up with heat in an electrical circuit. the aluminum housing mini starters cool themselves better while going down the road. and yes, the farther away from the exhaust the colder it stays. my 406 ate 6 GM heavy duty stock style starters in 3 months. three were factory rebuilds and the second three were brand new. then i bought a good mini starter for $120 and problem solved. same starter is going on it's 7th year in the car.

now if you are going purist and numbers matching, it's a mute point, you need a full size starter. either way you go it's your money and your car.

BTW Ironcross, love the ride!

427Hotrod

I've been using the basic Summit mini starter for about 6 years now with no issues. I used it mainly because I could repostion it in several ways to clear headers and oil pan. But it has been an excellent starter and never fails to crank my 540. It's just a basic Nippondenso design as most of them are....good stuff...no need to spend major $$.

Another good option is the later permanent magnet GM starters. You can get them at Autozone. A simple homemade spacer tube through bolt holes adapts the metric bolts to regular ones, They also work great.

But as mentioned, a good stock old style starter will work fine too. You HAVE to have good cables to starter and ground. Voltage drops will kill any starter.


JIM

Ironcross

I guess were all correct. There is a place for mini usage. And yes hotrod, the GM permanent magnet is one of the best choice's one could make for either small blocks or 454`s. It`s also quite a bit cheaper than those Mimi's Electrical is one of our best lines but with top of the line quality starters and alternators. This results in sympathy for those with starting issues blamed on the wrong part.

I don't know of a miniature that would fit a 427. Those 396/427 starters are fairly unique and with a very heavy.special cast iron nose.

69427

I've had good luck with several combinations of starters in my '69. I ran the stock starter for a bunch of years, but was grossed out by the weight of it. I replaced the iron nose with an aluminum one to shave a pound or two (I don't recall if I did that the same time I changed flywheel size or not), but never had a problem with the lighter nose. I eventually put in a later C4 lightweight starter. Nine pounds lighter, and it starts my 427 every time.

big_G

The main problem with the old dinosaur starters is they used copper wire for the field windings. Copper wire has a positive temperature coefficient, causing higher resistance as the temp. goes up. This temporarily reduces the torque output of the starter until it cools down. All mini-starters have permanent magnets in place of the field windings. They are not suspect to heat degradation, and draw no power, leaving full voltage for the armature. The "General" knew about this problem, just took him 35 years to remedy it. (All 'Vettes since '88 use mini-starters).

WESCH

Hi

Very interesting thread.

I don't know of a miniature that would fit a 427. Those 396/427 starters are fairly unique and with a very heavy.special cast iron nose

I eventually put in a later C4 lightweight starter. Nine pounds lighter, and it starts my 427 every time.

So what's the trick to use the C4 starter ?
Just the bolt size that requires bushings or ..... ?

Günther

Ironcross

I dont see how it will fit the bellhousing because of it`s unique nose.

69427

I'll go take a peek under the car tomorrow to refresh my memory. The only thing I recall was I had to trim the bellhousing sheetmetal "inspection cover/splash shield" to be compatible with the slightly different shape nose on the C4 starter.

ps: I've been to Luxembourg several times on business. I always enjoyed my time there. I was also very impressed and appreciative for how well the U.S. military cemetery there was taken care of.

WESCH

Hi

ps: I've been to Luxembourg several times on business. I always enjoyed my time there. I was also very impressed and appreciative for how well the U.S. military cemetery there was taken care of.

We don't forget our friends.

Günther

vetteguy75

I too had starter problems...hard cranking, slow cranking, etc etc etc...when it got hot. Purchased this MSD starter from Summit Racing about 6 months ago and have had zero problems with starting...Good Luck!

69427

I looked under the car to check out the starter this afternoon. A few items come to mind. As I mentioned earlier, I trimmed the sheet metal shield to clear the starter nose. The stock type (3/8") bolts are nice and tight in the mounting holes in the identical spare starter I pulled off the shelf. (I don't know if the later engines retained SAE bolts or changed to metric.) I did have to re-route the main battery line a little to connect it to the positive terminal. Due to the position that the electrical motor is clocked on these starters, I did have to add a small heat shield, as the header tubes were somewhat close. There's only two things I can think of that complicate this component update. I have the lightweight 153 tooth flywheel, versus the original 168 tooth flywheel. Obviously this starter won't work with the larger flywheels, as it doesn't have the additional holes for multiple mounting positions. Also, I switched to HEI years ago, and have no need for a starter R terminal connection, which doesn't exist on the new starter anyway. These obviously are potential show stoppers in some applications, but it worked out for me.