I just put in a 95 Z28 starter in my 87 IROC....why do the LT1 or mini starters sound the way they do? kinda like a short whistle when you crank the car.

 

They are a gear reduction starter. What you hear are the gears whining. You should hear my powermaster starter.

 

So that sound is normal? I thought maybe something might be wrong....

what does gear reduction mean or do? I assume its better than older starters?

 

Someone here at work said that if I put a starter shim in that would get rid of the whistle? true or not? My old stock starter didnt have a shim in it and I was told that I shouldnt need one when I put this LT1 starter in...

whatcha guys think?

 

Gear reduction starters have a whine to them. This is for higher torque to turn high compression motors over. You basically shim it per the spec and that is all you can do. I shimmed mine and it still whines.

 

My GMPP gear reduction starter whines too. It has since the day it was new...it's just the nature of the beast.


Using a gear reduction starter is just like putting deeper gears in the rearend. It puts out more torque which will turn the engine over more easily.

 

thanks!....Im not even going to mess with shimming it cause it cranks just fine...Ive already gotten use to the little whine...I kinda like it...

 

No, you do have to shim it to spec. You cannot shim away the whine but you have to shim it to spec. I had to shim mine. I had the GMPP one with the red fancy bowtie that I paid for and no one can see.

 

I know the feeling. My PM9500 was freakin expensive, and you can't see it at all. But it will turn a 18:1 compression motor and it put out more torque than my dad's Harley. It came with a dyno sheet, like 224 ft lbs of torque. Plus, it weighs like 9 lbs.

As far as shimming the starter goes, you're supposed to have so many thousands of an inch between the teeth of the starter and the flywheel or something like that. It's supposed to keep the flywheel from destroying the teeth on the starter.

 

had to put a 1/16 shim on mine. but mine is for a 93 corvette.

 

It's all different but if you don't shim it, you risk having to replace the starter gear or better yet the flexplate.

 

confused a bit... is that only for high torque starters? I just want a oem starter so i dont have to do anythng to it, for my lt1 .

i havent ordered one yet, so ill ask now ;p

 

with my old starter it didnt have a shim...so when I put the 95 starter in I didnt use a shim either. ITs not making any kind of grinding noise so I assume its fine and actually the whin is not as bad as I thought it just takes some getting use to, once you do I dont even notice it.

specs? what specs for the starter? where would I find starter specs for my year car? and even so that would be with the factory starter...Ive put ina 95 starter so I guess the old specs dont mean much, huh?

 

I have seen a starter that did not require a shim but on another car, it did. It is all different.

 

The whole shimming thing is to make up for GM's sloppy production tolerances. As long as it doesn't bind up or grind, you should be good.