Headers And Hot Start Problems

[c3po]

I did a lot of research on this, so let me know what you think. I have a small block engine in my 1983 Chevrolet El Camino, I put Sanderson Shorty Headers on 2 years ago and had them Jet-Hot Coated, I have the regular starter and the header pipes are maybe 6 inches away from the starter, on a hot day the header pipes are about 400-450 degrees and the starter and solenoid is 165 degrees, this is taken with an infrared gun. I have read that gear reduction starters do not always cure the Hot Start Problems, I read that the starter heat shields and wraps only block 30% of the heat, a company that makes Mean Green Starters, which cost almost $260.00 say that there starters are not affected by heat. The other thing I read is that the culprit to these problems is the solenoid and the only way to combat this is to put on a starter solenoid relocation kit that puts the solenoid away from the heat. The car starts up fine when it is cold but after driving the car on a hot day if I stop for a few minutes and then restart it is like the starter is dragging or slow for a second or two. The guy at Summit told me that there gear reduction starters are only better than the bigger starters because they are smaller and the starter and solenoid is a little bit further from the exhaust, he also stated it would be a good idea to put the wrap on the mini starter. I should also point out that this starter is about 7 or 8 years old. I did clean the battery cables tonite and she started up better after a long drive, the battery is 2 years old and everything charges fine, I can always check the battery. So my options are NAPA starter and solenoid relocation kit with the starter wrap, gear reduction starter with the wrap, or Mean Green Starter for $250.00, I should also point out the NAPA starter and Summit Gear Reduction starter are about the same price, I know I posted before about which starter to buy, but I wanted to go into more detail about my situation and let everyone know what I gathered about hot start problems, another thing with the solenoid relocation kit is that it keeps the small wires further away from the heat, anyone with any experience with this situation who has had headers or is familiar with my situation please chime in. 1 last thing when I say the pipes are about 6 inches away I mean the pipes run above the starter, they are not close like on a full length header.

 

[NYEngineer]

Get the Summit mini starter and don't wrap it. Get a Ford style remote solenoid, put your battery cable that originally went to the starter on one side of the solenoid. Make another cable from the other side of the solenoid to the battery stud on the mini starter. Make a jumper from the battery lug on the mini starter to the pull in terminal on the solenoid on the mini starter and take the wire that used to go to the starter solenoid and use it to activate the Ford solenoid. Car will start like a champ every time. You can even wire up the Chevy starter like that and it will work better. DO NOT spend 250 or whatever dollars on the green monster. I used to buy mini starters from one of my suppliers for 59 dollars and they were the same as the Summit starter. They started 502's and everything.

 

[alanu]

Thinking out of the box.

Have you looked at your timing lately???? excessive advance will give you the exact hard starting issues.

Reduction gear starters works well but if you have an msd cdi box you can back the timing off when you initally start the car.

 

[c3po]

I found some gear reduction starters from DB Electrical that were cheaper than Summits, as far as the timing it was checked last year and it was at specs. NYEngineer what supplier had the starters for $59.00, if you can remember please let me know.

 

[NYEngineer]

It was some rebuilder's warehouse out of Florida. They don't sell to the general public. I was able to buy from them because I had a starter/ alternator shop.

Sorry, I've been out of the business for a few years so the name isn't coming to me.

 

[c3po]

I found 1 last night that went for $54.00 plus $12.00 shipping, so $66.00, it looks the same and has the same rightup as the 1 on Summit that goes for $105.00 plus $11.00 handling charge so $115.00, why is it so much more from Summit. Something tells me there are only a few companies maybe 3 or 4 that build starters, these other companies that put there names on the starters charge whatever they want. Is it also true that there is no such thing as a brand new starter, meaning that they are all rebuilt. I am going to give DB Electrical a call on Monday.

 

[NYEngineer]

I don't know about no new starters, but I absolutely believe MANY people relabel Chinese mini starters. I'm sure the ones I sold were exactly the same as Summit's.

 

[c3po]

They were in my opinion, I looked in the Summit catalog last night, they had there's for $105.00 and a Powermaster one for about $145.00, they looked exactly the same, except they were both pictured differently, 1 from the front and the other 1 from the back, if you looked at both starters carefuly you could tell that they were the same, they also had them on different pages, sneaky. Now here is my question I have narrowed it down to 2 starters, 1 has 2 times the starting power of a normal starter and the other 1 has 2.5 times the starting power of a normal starter, the 1 with more starting power is about $10.00 more expensive. Also the more powerful starter weighs 9 pounds whereas the less powerful 1 weighs 7 pounds. I will have to make a few calls tomorrow and I will report back as to what I have found out.

 

[NYEngineer]

I never bought the big one. The small one is plenty strong. As I posted earlier, Two guys were starting 502s with the regular one. The bigger one is for monster compression and stuff like that. The regular one will serve you fine.

 

[c3po]

Thanks, that's what I needed to here, if it can start a Big Block Chevrolet than it can easily start a Small Block Chevrolet.