2nd. Dumb Question
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 41
Likes: 0
From: Western PA
2nd. Dumb Question
Charged the battery in the Vette in anticipation of my FIRST cruise.
I jumped in, hit the starter for a few seconds. Turned over like a wild man. Hit again and click...click...click. Played with it a few minutes, nothing.
Well that wasn't going to stop me, so I brought out the jack and jackstand.
I crawled under it and jumpered it out with a screw driver and got it running. Got out from under it, put her on the ground and told my wife to vacate the drivers seat, cause I am "outa" here.
Now for my question.... Any 350 starter work ? Didn't really take a
look-see while I was under there. Are all the bolts easy to get to ? It is a '78 L-48.
Rhufus
I jumped in, hit the starter for a few seconds. Turned over like a wild man. Hit again and click...click...click. Played with it a few minutes, nothing.
Well that wasn't going to stop me, so I brought out the jack and jackstand.
I crawled under it and jumpered it out with a screw driver and got it running. Got out from under it, put her on the ground and told my wife to vacate the drivers seat, cause I am "outa" here.
Now for my question.... Any 350 starter work ? Didn't really take a
look-see while I was under there. Are all the bolts easy to get to ? It is a '78 L-48.
Rhufus
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,083
Likes: 2
From: Montreal Qc.
Originally Posted by Rhufus
Now for my question.... Any 350 starter work ? Didn't really take a
look-see while I was under there. Are all the bolts easy to get to ? It is a '78 L-48.
Rhufus
look-see while I was under there. Are all the bolts easy to get to ? It is a '78 L-48.
Rhufus
Lots of folks recommend mini starters or remote solenoid starters because heat seems to kill Vette starters, but mine has never given me any hot or cold start problems.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,874
Likes: 263
From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
Originally Posted by Love My 72 and 77
If you in fact need a new starter go with a mini starter they are awesome!
especially if headers are in your future...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,083
Likes: 2
From: Montreal Qc.
Originally Posted by Rhufus
I think I will go with the mini-starter. So far I have come up with $162.50 from a circle track supplier.
I wonder what I would pay for a OEM starter ?????
Rhufus,
a.k.a. Kenny
I wonder what I would pay for a OEM starter ?????
Rhufus,
a.k.a. Kenny
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Instructor
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 235
Likes: 0
From: Mansfield Ohio
I know you probably just want to bolt a new one on and get back to driving, but if you remove the nuts off the terminals on the solenoid and remove the endcap, the solenoid can usually be fixed easily. You just need to take the large positive studs out of the cap and rotate them 180 degrees and reinstall all. It isn't a permanent fix, but will get more miles out of the original. Of course with the price of solenoids these days, don't know if it's worth the trouble to fix the old one!
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,831
Likes: 10
From: Springfield MO
St. Jude Donor '07
GM has a nice smaller, high-torque starter that bolts right in. It was designed (I think) for the 502 BB crate engines. So far it doesn't seem to have the classic heat soak problem, and starts great every time. It sounds kinda funny, though. 
Racer
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 359
Likes: 0
The other thing to do is to mount a starter relay near the starter. If the Vette is anything like my Firebird, the starter circuit goes through a bunch of connections before it gets from the battery to the starter. Take a Bosche type relay and run a wire directly from the positive battery terminal to the common side of the relay points. Run a wire from the normally open contact to the starter solenoid. Then run your stock starter wire to one side of the relay coil and the other side of the coil to ground. A voltage drop to a small solenoid is not nearly as critical as the it is to a starter solenoid. Put an inline fuse right near your battery terminal to protect from a short circuit. I would use #10 ga. wire from the battery to the starter, and probably a 15 or even 20 amp fuse.
Last edited by Russ Bellinis; Nov 14, 2004 at 11:50 PM.