lil red

Last week was a tough one.
I was a little too burnt to do even a simple blog post like this one.

msd starter

Ken had found the most expensive starter to put on the Hurtlocker Truck.
I was thinking, "finally a quick and easy bolt-on!"
JINX!

stock vs MSD chevy starters

The MSD starter is puny compared to the original '85 unit.
There is a rotating option and also a couple bolting arrangements.
I should have known something was fishy when there were 3 pages of instructions.

MSD starter dissassembled

The first try I dropped one of the bolts on my forehead.
Holey Chit.
It couldn't be this hard.
After some fiddling,
it was obvious the motor needed to be rotated on the housing.
The block hugger headers were too close to the solenoid.
This was easy it's just 3 hex-bolts.

Of course the gear ran right on the flex plate.
They supplied a shim set to fix that problem,
which means a light tear down of the starter.
No problem.

installed MSD starter

To top it off the starter needed the shims for the correct gear mesh,
which is a typical chevy thing.

After a little fight,
the starter looks at home,
and it spins the engine easily.
So much for an easy bolt on!

TP