Does anyone have access to a mill?  I need to adjust the starter base to starter pinion distance.

I believe that the starter holes in the block were off from the factory and they put the starter too far away from the flexplate.   I am currently around .080"+ clearance between the teeth and need to be .020-035".  

I played around with trying to shim the outer bolt but it is not enough.   Rather than file forever (powermaster starter with nice flat base) I would like to mill off around .050" and see where it comes in at.  I can always shim back if needed.

Thanks,

John

Not sure what part of town you are in but I know someone in Eagan that can do what you need. Send me a PM and I will give you his name a number if you are interested.

Will you be at the meeting Wed?

Yes, I will. Gotta get a big burger you know.

Outside again if the weather's decent, might be chilly

Did it work?

I'll tell you tomorrow.

I can fit a .050 allen wrench in between the teeth but not a 1/16 allen wrench. So getting closer.

You can blame me... I talked you out of that last .025"...

John, I actually took .077 off so he only needs another .023 for it to fit.

After a couple of trials, I took a total of .080" more off to get the clearance where it should be.

What did you use?

I used a 4.5" sanding disk on a grinder, large file, 400 grit sand paper and flat plate steel, caliper and two beers.

Fun steps  -  What would have taken 10 minutes or less in mill took about an hour.

Checked height overall,
Hold part down with one hand, hold grinder in the the other.
Grind down some,
check height overall in different spots with caliper,
repeat until close to where wanted. 
Nick gloved hand with grinder and go Dang! as you look at the missing slice of flesh on one hand and waiting for the blood to appear. 
Ignore blood, duct tape hand and continue to grind where needed to even out.

Using a large flat file, press file down across whole top evenly and then file until grind marks are gone.

Place sandpaper on a large flat plate steel and place part with filed surface flat on paper and then put pressure on piece and being careful not to lead an edge pulled across sandpaper.
Repeat until file marks are gone or even sanded.
Confirm with caliper that height is even all around, drink beer.

Reassemble the starter and reinstall starter to engine and check gap.
Swear, drop long starter bolt on your head that was hanging up on header when unbolting the other bolts and moving the starter around,
swear,
repeat above.




-- Edited by Enganeer on Friday 15th of October 2010 05:05:59 PM

I took a little more off just to get me in the .030 range for clearance. Total material removed was around 3/16". Ya, that messed up.

For stock 400, low compression and oem cam and stock timing, probably was marginal but not for a 10:1, big cam and initial timing at 14-18°.

I do the love the powermaster starter. It had the third hole in the mounting block, so I used the mounting block as a guide and made another mounting hole in the block for extra clamping force. No problem turning the engine over when hot either. Even with the gear reduction stock GM starter, it would not work or get a half a turn, this one makes it turn over whether is wants to kick back.

I think Im going to have to do the same thing to mine...

I thought you had a dart block?

I do .. Had to custom make some starter bolts with the right thread depth and shoulder.. them mill about .040" off the mounting pad on the starter