Starter recommendations...

[roguegeek]

Second-gen Camaro, LS427/570, T56, Quick Time bell housing, Speedtech Extreme suspension all around. Looking at starters. Called up Speedtech and they said they just use the GM starters (12617229) and starter bolts (11610633) on all of their cars with no power or clearance issues. What options do people around here like? Or should I just stick with the ACDelco stuff? If there's more info you need that I left out, let me know.

Thanks.

[andrewb70]

Second-gen Camaro, LS427/570, T56, Quick Time bell housing, Speedtech Extreme suspension all around. Looking at starters. Called up Speedtech and they said they just use the GM starters (12617229) and starter bolts (11610633) on all of their cars with no power or clearance issues. What options do people around here like? Or should I just stick with the ACDelco stuff? If there's more info you need that I left out, let me know.

Thanks.

That's a fifth gen Camaro starter. I use it on my Cougar. I like the plug for the starter solenoid connection and if you look carefully there are two small tapped holes. You can get a OEM heatshield that will bolt to it, which keeps the starter cooler.

Andrew

[roguegeek]

That's a fifth gen Camaro starter. I use it on my Cougar. I like the plug for the starter solenoid connection and if you look carefully there are two small tapped holes. You can get a OEM heatshield that will bolt to it, which keeps the starter cooler.

Andrew

Sounds like this should work just fine then. Do you happen to have the part number for the heat shield?

Edit: Google is my friend. Heat shield is 12629286 and heat shield bolts are 11571131.

[roguegeek]

Ordered up everything. Started to throw it all on just now, but ran into an issue I didn't think was going to exist. Has anyone heard of clearance issues with starters? The dome around the gear on the ACDelco 12617229 starter is contacting the dust plate on the Quicktime RM-8019 bell housing. It's stopping the starter from sitting flushed with the block. See pics for details.

That doesn't seem right, right? Thoughts on how to address this? Do I just cut into the dust cover? I'm less concerned about making them fit and more interested in knowing if this is just a common spot for clearance issues.

[andrewb70]

Normal part of hot rodding. Trim the backing plate as needed.

Andrew

[roguegeek]

Normal part of hot rodding. Trim the backing plate as needed.

Andrew

K. Thanks.

[rlovell383]

Another point to add:
Be sure you have the proper 10mm bolts for the starter, not 3/8-16... They will thread in, but eventually you will be left with a stripped block and expensive repair. Remanufactured starters sometimes come with the wrong hardware... Ask me how I know..

[roguegeek]

Another point to add:
Be sure you have the proper 10mm bolts for the starter, not 3/8-16... They will thread in, but eventually you will be left with a stripped block and expensive repair. Remanufactured starters sometimes come with the wrong hardware... Ask me how I know..

Good to know. I basically have all of the parts and fasteners in this diagram here. Let me know if you see anything funny there.

[andrewb70]

Good to know. I basically have all of the parts and fasteners in this diagram here. Let me know if you see anything funny there.

Get the pigtail for the started solenoid connector.

Andrew

[roguegeek]

Get the pigtail for the started solenoid connector.

Andrew

Yup. Grabbed it as well. Thanks.

[roguegeek]

So it's not just the backing plate that needs to be trimmed. About a quarter inch of material needs to be taken out from the bell housing as well, which will effectively mean putting an exposed hole on the bell housing. What I could do is grind the material off of the starter instead, from that huge dome covering the starter gear. That seems like it'd be the better thing to do...

Update: Just got of the phone with Holley and they're claiming there's no clearance issues with any factory LS starter. Clearly, they're wrong, but it is strange to me that a common LS bell housings on a common LS block isn't working with a common LS starter. I'm seeing a lot of starters not having the dome over the gear and that would definitely address the clearance issues, but I don't know. If that's the case, yeah, I could cut it, but am I messing with the integrity of the product at that point? Is there a starter that's right for this engine that will fit? Obviously, Holley pointed me towards their MSD starters, but I'm not about to just grab one without hearing from you all first. Will continue digging.

[roguegeek]

Ok. I borrowed a couple high compression, small form starters from a friend just to test fit. None had the dome like on the factory one. Zero issues with all of them and nearly none of them needed to be shimmed. The factory starter is just not the answer for me in this case, so back to Summit it goes, which sucks because the idea of running factory parts was awesome and the heat shield was nice. No worries there, though, as I'll be wrapping my newly delivered Speedtech headers in heat wrap. Now I just need to figure out which starter to grab. Sounds like I really can't go wrong with anything out there as long as it fits my compression and doesn't have clearance issues. If anyone has any ideas for an aftermarket starter, I'm open to hearing which ones.

[Senek67RS]

Ok. I borrowed a couple high compression, small form starters from a friend just to test fit. None had the dome like on the factory one. Zero issues with all of them and nearly none of them needed to be shimmed. The factory starter is just not the answer for me in this case, so back to Summit it goes, which sucks because the idea of running factory parts was awesome and the heat shield was nice. No worries there, though, as I'll be wrapping my newly delivered Speedtech headers in heat wrap. Now I just need to figure out which starter to grab. Sounds like I really can't go wrong with anything out there as long as it fits my compression and doesn't have clearance issues. If anyone has any ideas for an aftermarket starter, I'm open to hearing which ones.

I ended up using the one from Sikky Manufacturing. I am also using the speedtech headers on my LS with no fitment issues.

[roguegeek]

I ended up using the one from Sikky Manufacturing. I am also using the speedtech headers on my LS with no fitment issues.

Thank you. I'll look into this one right now.

[FLYNAVY53]

Ill throw in a vote for the Powermaster Torque XS. I run it on both my LS swapped 72 C20 Suburban and my 64 Corvette with the original solid lifter 327. Both motors are 11:1 and the little Powermaster spins them over with no issue....ever.....even after scenarios that would heat sink most old school starters. I found the clockable option on the LS version very handy with the headers I'm running. 7 years on the C20, zero issues.

[roguegeek]

I tested out a couple other starters. Some fit. Some didn't. As I said early, any of the domed starters (I don't know what to call these) just didn't work. A lot of other starters with the larger solenoids didn't work either. The only stuff that was fitting were the starts were the much smaller solenoids. One of the recommendations I got in the Speedtech group was the Jegs LS Starter Mini, which I purchased before I saw some of the other recommendations here. It fit perfectly with a good amount of clearance everywhere and the specs say it's strong enough, so I'll be sticking with it for the time being.



Thanks for everyone's help.