Sorry if this subject has been beat to death. I'm running locked out at 34 degs. The car loves it and runs absolutely terrific. However when starting cold my engine will kick back occasionally. I do run a starter saver and it's supposed to retard the timing during starting to 14 degs. Takes out 20 degs. Well this morning the mini starter snout got ripped off again. For you guys running locked out timing what are you doing to keep this from happening ? I'm open to suggestions and any friendly advice would be appreciated. Thank you. John B.
The start retard only works well IF your rotor is properly phased. If you’re breaking nose stater nose comes, try it without the start retard. I run 34 or so locked timing on a 11.4:1 BBB, no start retard and no problems.
One of the things I do, because I don't TRUST electronics, is I wire in a kill switch. Turn it off & crank the engine. When it's spinning as fast as it can flip the switch on. Haven't broken a nose cone in yrs. using this method.
Not sure if you are running a stock flex plate or not. I could not get my mini starters to stop grinding with my SFI flex plate. I went to the Robb Mc starter. It has an optional pinion support for running locked timing. That and you can adjust pinion to flex plate clearance. You can't do that with the GM mini starters.
Larry, do most Buick 455s require shims for an aftermarket starter ? Reason I ask is I have never had to use any shims. I've never had a grinding problem. Do they ( Robbmcperformance ) offer shims just in case I might need them ?
John, you can shim any starter for gear back lash. The shims go between the starter mounting and the block. My problem was the aftermarket SFI flex plate. Probably a little thicker than a stock one. The pinion gear was too close (practically touching it). The instructions tell you to check it. Robbs starters use a mounting block. You can shim between the mounting block and starter to back the pinion away from the flex plate. Robb supplies one 1/16" shim. I needed 2, Robb sent me another one no charge. No more grinding. You can't adjust that on any kind of stock starter. If you go to the bottom of the page I linked, you can download the instructions for the starter. I also needed 1/32" shim for back lash. The starter works great now.
Standard starter shims are available at any NAPA parts store and most parts stores. These are the ones that go under the bolts. The pinion gear ones Larry speaks about above are unique to and available from RobbMc and several come with the starter. See here: http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/reviews-for-robbmc-starters.325646/#post-2744806