looking into getting an aftermarket starter. anyone have any experience or luck with certain brands? been looking through jegs and summit and have heard a couple good things about the summit brand ones. i just have a stock compression 350 and my stock starter went to shit. i want a mini one so that it will be further away from the header.

well this dosen't exectly answer your question but I have a mean green after market high torq starter on a beefed up 454 and it works great

I bought a starter from jegs for my dialy driver over a year ago, it works great and it is half the size of the origional so it is easier to install.

they cost $139, here is a link.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product2_10001_10002_751066_-1

I'm running a stock starter off of a '96 tahoe on my small block. I think it's just a cheep advanced auto one. It is alot smaller and has a permanent magnet so it is not so subseptible to getting heat soaked.

troy

Just run a 96 or newer starter. They are the mini gear reduction, all you have to do is get shorter bolts for it. I have been running one for 3 years with no trouble. and you can get them anywhere.

I agree with the newer GM ones....they are dead reliable and if needed can be had anywhere. At least the ones in my trucks have been. They are not turning over high comp motors....but they do turn over the motors VERY often. The Mean Green shit is nice but IMO a little pricey...maybe I am just a cheap basterd? Hmm? I wonder why they say it'll crank any motor no matter what it's static comp is...now i wonder if there would be a limit to the starter with dynamic comp factored in as that is the real deal. I am sure with 4.4 reduction there would be no problems using either.

I'm running a stock starter off of a '96 tahoe on my small block. I think it's just a cheep advanced auto one. It is alot smaller and has a permanent magnet so it is not so subseptible to getting heat soaked.

troy

Does this one mount straight across or criss-cross? I've got the criss-cross mount on my 408. The hole is there for the straight across mount of course, but this is a 37-year-old block & it's been in a competition mud racer for a decade, so don't know how well the threads would clean up :eek:

I have been running a (iirc) Powermaster or something like that for several years now, no problems from it at all.

A buddy of mine got a powermaster and it worked well. I tried to get the same starter from the same place (local) and they had switched to a no-name look alike. Three tries and no luck so I got a refund. went back to the factory type and put in a heat shield. guess i'll do the 96 and up next. OEM usually rules.

A buddy of mine got a powermaster and it worked well. I tried to get the same starter from the same place (local) and they had switched to a no-name look alike. Three tries and no luck so I got a refund. went back to the factory type and put in a heat shield. guess i'll do the 96 and up next. OEM usually rules.

I just ordered a powermaster from summit. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=PWM%2D9600&autoview=sku

a couple of years ago i replaced the stock starter in my 79 cause i got a new battery, alt, and wires. the peice of crap i got from car quest (ac delco) would never really fit right. i went through hell trying to shim it. i would get the measurement right, clearanced with the paperclip, but it would still grind about every other crank. then on top of that, it had heat soak problems. if i was running at idle or just above, and there was no air circulating around it, it would get hot quick and would not crank. i even had a couple of heat sheilds on it.

anyway i found a thread about this on a cammaro mesage board, and they all were saying that unless it is an original from the factory starter, or an aftermarket ministarter, it was junk. thanks for all your guys' replies, hopfully this will be the last starter i buy for a while.

If you do water or mud the marine starters are a good pick also just get one for a newer mercruser they have more sealing to prevent explosion.

Summit hardware is good. Never had a problem with them. Jegs on the other hand has shipped me damaged crap in an undamaged box. Then you have to wait two weeks until they receive the crap they sent you before they will send another. I told 'em to keep it and went to Summit. A lot of the no name stuff are rebuilds and mostly crap. If you have to shim it let the next unlucky soul deal with it. You get what you pay for dude! Go with the good stuff and don't look back.

you can get a remote mount solenoid too, works great and cheaper