Mini-Starter

[Snoots]

OK.

I want to put a junkyard mini-starter in my 350 with a TH350 and 153 tooth flywheel.

As I understand it:

Mounting bolts should be straight across, not staggered.

The best (higher torque) starter is off of a 4.3.
The best starter is off of a Vortec engine.
I need the bolts (shorter) with the starter.
I need to get a starter that has 9 teeth on the drive gear.
It should be found on a '95 or newer vehicle.

How do I tell the year?
How do I know if it's a Vortec engine?
How can I tell if it's a 4.3?
Is any of this correct?

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[Iowan]

OK.

I want to put a junkyard mini-starter in my 350 with a TH350 and 153 tooth flywheel.

As I understand it:

Mounting bolts should be straight across, not staggered.

The best (higher torque) starter is off of a 4.3.
The best starter is off of a Vortec engine.
I need the bolts (shorter) with the starter.
I need to get a starter that has 9 teeth on the drive gear.
It should be found on a '95 or newer vehicle.

How do I tell the year?
How do I know if it's a Vortec engine?
How can I tell if it's a 4.3?
Is any of this correct?

You must be registered for see images attach

To be clear you do mean the year of the truck right?

 

[Frankenchevy]

If you look for an astro van or full size pickup with a v6, I'm pretty sure they'll all be a 4.3. vortec on 5.7 started in 96. I know 5.7 vortecs have center bolt valve covers; maybe there's a similar giveaway on 4.3s. if the MPFI intake is still there that's a good giveaway. if the motor is still in the original vehicle just look for something 96-99 based on the mfgr sticker in the door. I think they went to the curved dash in 96 in the trucks as well. I'm not sure that a 4.3 starter would be that much better than a 5.7. the v6 is just a v8 with two cylinders shaved off. if you go through my build thread you can find a picture of my accessory brackets when I was painting them and I think they are specific to the vortec era as well.

 

[Frankenchevy]

summit has a high torque mini starters for around $100 new. I have a used vortec starter at home I can snap a pic of as well.

 

[4WDKC]

How do I tell the year? - sticker under hood or in door jamb.
How do I know if it's a Vortec engine? - 96+ is vortec
How can I tell if it's a 4.3? - rwd v6 only came in truck/suv/van/fbody. Dont pull one from a fbody v6
Is any of this correct?

 

[Snoots]

Thanks!
Boneyard starter for $25 sounds a lot better than $100 for a chineseium Summit one tho.

A boneyard is my retail therapy.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I put the starter from my 1962 327 next to the vortec starter for comparison. Both era of starter have staggered both era of starter have staggered mounting bolts. The newer starter is definitely much smaller, however notice the differences in the gear housing. The open face of the early starter has a 180° or a straight angle while the late-model starter has an obtuse angle. The late-model starter was pulled from a 1997 5.7 vortec. Just to confirm I looked at both of the blocks I have sitting in my garage, one of which is a crate vortec, and they both have staggered bolts. Both are 9 tooth gears.

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[bucket]

A 153 tooth flywheel takes a non-staggered starter. You would need a starter from an LT1 F-body or B-body. All the trucks and vans had a 168 tooth flywheel and a matching staggered bolt pattern starter.