Starter Selinoid Heat Shield

[BRL]

Friend has a CHEVYVAN 20 that he's having hauld to the dump and offered me anything I wanted off of it.
Guess he didn't know enough to add oil and the 350 threw a rod at some point.
The transmission is some kind of overdrive automatic so I'm not going to try to get that out because it's sitting in the weeds, but I did manage to nab the starter after a horrible struggle because of my age and beer gut.
Anyway it has a cool heat shield that I may add to my starter selinoid with my long tube headers and I thought I show it to you guys.

Oh yea, I threw 12V at it and it works just fine.

[Steeveedee]

I had a heat shield similar to that on my truck. It might still be in some nook or cranny in my garage, but I removed the 90 pound stock starter and put a mini starter on it and reduced the hot start issue.

[BRL]

Actually I've never had a heat soak issue with an auto parts store starter but the shield was free and would give me peace of mind for just the labor of attaching it.
I will admit those starters weigh a ton when you're squeezed under a van in the sticks.

[1970 CST Short Wide]

When I had the BB in my Truck the headers sat close to the Starter. I wrapped it in an asbestos blanket made for starters from Summit. Solved my Hot Start problem

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by 1970 CST Short Wide

When I had the BB in my Truck the headers sat close to the Starter. I wrapped it in an asbestos blanket made for starters from Summit. Solved my Hot Start problem

X2. I wrapped my starter and the solenoid years ago and never had a heat soak issue again.

[MARKDTN]

What year van? If the transmission is a TH350 with lockup I wouldn't bother. If it is a 700R4 and is '87 and later it is desirable. '83-84 probably not worth bothering with as they have the weakest pump. '85-86 still not the best but for a stock application might be worth having. And of course you probably know if it is pre '82 (with the key on the dash) the tilt columns are very desirable. HEI distributor would also be nice to get.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by BRL

The transmission is some kind of overdrive automatic so I'm not going to try to get that out because it's sitting in the weeds...

It's probably a TH350C, which I'd probably grab unless it's a PITA to do. It can serve as a poor boy OD trans by reducing highway revs by 10% or so. Makes a 3.08 seem more like a 2.73 or thereabouts. Recently had Phoenix Transmission in Weatherford, TX recommend one to me as an alternative to a 700R4. Of course, they would use the latest aftermarket parts available that address known issues.

I'm no trans expert, having done nothing any deeper than valve body mods and speedo gears. What do you trans geeks think about the 350C?

[BRL]

Originally Posted by MARKDTN

What year van?...HEI distributor would also be nice to get.

Over 30 years ago I got a beater truck from a car lot and the TH-350 that came with it had brown fluid so I flushed it, added a cooler and a B&M shift in it and that thing is still in my truck today...amazing!
I only was looking for another TH-350 just to try my hand at rebuilding it and maybe have as a backup.
I don't know what year it is because he's gone on vacation right now but I'm really not interested in another type transmission because mine has been great as is.

Didn't think of the HEI but my ACCEL distributor has been great and it has a 4-pin module so I'd probably get another one of those if ever needed.
He also has a motor home with a Chevy 454 and a TH-400 but if you guys would have seen the struggle I had just getting the starter out of the van...I ain't young and energetic anymore.

[LS short box]

Just a thought but every LS starter has a tin shield that just clips over the solenoid. I add DEI heat shield sticky back to the shield.

[68 C10 Driver]

I remember back in the day fabricating a heat shield from a coffee can. Worked great!

['68OrangeSunshine]

I had a 2-layer aluminum heat shield on the starter on the 454 BBC in my '67 K/10 Suburban.
I tried to put the same shield on the stock starter on my V8 350 SBC in my '71 GMC K/1500 Jimmy. With Heddman hedders, it would not fit. So I rigged in a Ford solenoid on the driver side fender, just aft of the Battery feed terminal, and it lasted a good 16 years.
These hedders are so tight that the passenger side has to come off the access the Starter.
Getting the LH hedder off to pull the Z-Bar will require my loosening the motor mounts and pulling the block up with a cherrypicker.
Still a work in progress.

[Steeveedee]

I had a fun time with my '66 Le Mans that I put an RA III 400 in. Lay the headers in, then set the engine close to the mounts and start the header bolts. I specially bent some open-end wrenches made in India to tighten the header bolts. It would have been a crime to bend the few Snap-On wrenches I had. The only problem I ever had on that car was when I dropped a spark plug during a tune up and it shorted between the battery cable and a header tube, melting a hole in that primary tube. Fun weld job, right there.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

I had a fun time with my '66 Le Mans that I put an RA III 400 in. Lay the headers in, then set the engine close to the mounts and start the header bolts. I specially bent some open-end wrenches made in India to tighten the header bolts. It would have been a crime to bend the few Snap-On wrenches I had. The only problem I ever had on that car was when I dropped a spark plug during a tune up and it shorted between the battery cable and a header tube, melting a hole in that primary tube. Fun weld job, right there.

OUCH! That's why all the manuals [except when electrical troubleshooting] say ''Disconnect Battery before operating.''

And what's an RA III? [not a Poncho guy.]

[franken]

There are lots of opinions on this subject but not many with a lot of actual info. Is there a no crank, or slow crank trouble?
There's a bit of a lack of understanding of the difference between the low and high current side.
Not to mention nobody seems to have a voltmeter, which is the large issue.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

OUCH! That's why all the manuals [except when electrical troubleshooting] say ''Disconnect Battery before operating.''

And what's an RA III? [not a Poncho guy.]

Ram Air III. It's a 400 with performance upgrades over stock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_V8_engine

[LS short box]

Darn hard to find a coffee can these days! LOL.

[BRL]

Originally Posted by LS short box

Darn hard to find a coffee can these days! LOL.

That's a good point.
Actually a large soup can or something would probably work as well.
My starter doesn't hesitate anyway but after struggling under that dang van (because somebody didn't bring a jack) I would like to get some use out of that starter besides maybe a future replacement or core charge or something.

[68 C10 Driver]

Originally Posted by LS short box

Darn hard to find a coffee can these days! LOL.

They are out there, Publix sells a brand "Don Francisco" that uses a metal can. Also any old chip container like 'Charles Chips' that they sell at Cracker Barrel will work.

[steveo70]

I use a Moroso heat shield on my Jegs high torque starter for my 454/long tubes. I also added weather pack connectors for easier starter changes.

[mr48chev]

Any heat shield is well worth putting on a V8 Chevy.

I think I have a Moroso on the 454 in my 77 1 ton that I also did the Ford Solenoid thing on but what solved the hot start issue was going to the 1 gauge cables on both positive and ground leads from the 4 gauge that was on it. I just bought the correct length cables of O'Reilly's battery cable rack and it was the best investment I made in that department after fighting hot starts from the day I bought the truck. That truck wouldn't crank but if you were on enough incline to get rolling at all you could clutch start it.

Clean that starter up and throw a set of brushes and bushings in it and you have a great spare 168 tooth starter ready to go.

[custom10nut]

Originally Posted by leddzepp

X2. I wrapped my starter and the solenoid years ago and never had a heat soak issue again.

X3
I had the heat soak problem cook too many starters, so I did the same. Heat Blanket plus a fabricated shield attached to the header.
No more issues with heat soak.

[MARKDTN]

Depending on year the van column is desirable. A motorhome column almost definitely.

Our family had bad luck with lockup TH350s. Maybe it was just the one we had ('83 Van). I tried to get it to the transmission shop once pouring out fluid, bought a case of ATF to try to avoid a wrecker bill. Got about 2 blocks away and it would not go anymore and I was out of fluid and it was uphill so we had to pay a wrecker anyway.