Awhile back I read we can swap an early '90 Vette starter to my aged stock starter for clearance and better ignition issues but I was wondering how many teeth does my engine have versus a 350 found in the Vettes?

Is there a difference between the two before I go buy any unit?

 

Most SBC have 153 flywheel. So a Corvette should be the same.

 

thats not true i have had many 168 tooth flywheels on my sbc's

 

If the starter bolts are aligned, it has the small flywheel. If the bolts are offset, it's the large one. That's the quickest way to ID what you have.

 

All 3rd gen V8s had the smaller 153 tooth flexplate.

A good upgrade from your stock full sized starter is the starter used on later LT-1 Camaro and Firebird engines (plus matching bolts). Weighs about half a s much as your stock starter, much smaller physically (wiggles past the y-pipe without problems) and it's a gear-reduction high torque starter that will crank over the motor when you stock starter's tongue would be hanging out.

Done it several times now myself- a bulletproof upgrade. Even the stock wire connections drop right on it.

 

I just want to get clarification on what specific years I should retrieve a particular starter from the LT1 family of engines. That would help me out.

 

93-97 f-bodys had the smaller starter, anny will work, but not all where the gear reduction, but again, all are smaller then the stock third gen one

 

I know for sure the 94 works becuase that's what was on my 94 Formula and that's what I x-referenced against when upgrading the starter on my 3rd Gen.

 

On my new engine I went with a 168 tooth wheel and I am using a CVR protorque starter that has adjustable mounting...works perfectly. All 3rd gens came with the 153 tooth.

 

what sort of headers do you plan to run? a 168 tooth wheel would not work with my heddman headers. it put the starter too far "outward" so it was in the way of a header primary. this is with a ministarter as well.

 

I'm running the Hooker 2210 full length long tube 1 3/4" headers. With the CVR mini starter I was able to rotate it as close to the block as possible and the headers and starter fit perfectly. A mini starter that can be adjusted (rotated around) is almost a requirement when running full length headers on these 3rd gens. The passenger side gets pretty tight between the block and the cross member.
Lemme know if you have any questions....the car is running as of this summer after 5.5 long years of rebuilding...just have the tuning stage left.

- Joel

 

The larger 168 tooth flexplate will fit inside the bellhousing of a 3rd gen's 700R-4 automatic trans (done it myself a couple times). However, a 168 tooth flywheel won't fit inside the bellhousing of a 3rd gen's stock 5-speed manual trans. Guys over on Thirdgen.org have encountered this issue quite a few times.