Hey all. I'm Kimberly and I am the slave to my '78 Z28, "B". He is pretty "standard", 350/TH350, little shiny stuff, edlebrock intake and carb, blah, blah. Here is the deal: His starter silinoid "Granaded" on me. The plastic part that the terminals are on, cracked in half. Soooo, I had to replace it. Well, now, there seems to be binding. The starter wasn't shimmed before, should I shim it now? The symptoms seem to "come and go" and I'm confused. Meaning, sometimes he fires right up, no problem. Others, he either rotates slow (like its a battery issue) or binds (slow rotation, clunking like something is catching). I'm puling the starter today to test it at home and check the teeth. I am also going to check my flywheel for damage. He (My Camaro) was FINE before. I had to replace the battery due to it crapping out, then the silinoid to the starter granaded. Now, there is binding or some weird **** going on. I just replaced the battery, and even had the battery tested (Just cause its new doesn't mean its "good", they sit on them shelves for a long time sometimes). I trouble shot the alternator (disconnected the positive battery cable while the engine was running) and the engine didn't die. Any ideas?

 

Welcome to the forum!
When you replaced it did you use the same starter bolts you had before? If you didn't then that could be the issue if the new bolts don't have the proper shoulder. Also the flexplate might have been damaged from before, so see if the teeth are still good.

 

does your block still have the brace for the rear of the starter bolted to it, if it does and u dont get the starter back in that brace right it will do all of that u described above, i just ran into the SAME problem on my 78

 

if it is that bracket u can just remove it, everything will work just fine without it

 

Yup, used the same bolts. Nope, didn't see a brace/bracket on the block.

 

The noise you are describing doesnt sound like a grinding noise does it? Seems to me you have too little clearance rather then too much clearance, should be able to shim it up and be good too go i would think.

Did you happen to buy a cheaper starter that simply doesnt have the torque required to spin the motor sometimes?

Your alternator test doesn't really tell you anything other then the battery had enough of a charge to keep the engine running. If you have a clamp on ammeter you can test amperage that the alternator is putting out but if you dont have one, go buy a 10 dollar volt meter and make sure that your alternator is putting out 14.4 or so volts when you get the engine fired up. This usually is a good tell tale sign.