[1966geeto]

Is there anyway to pre shim a starter before putting eng in the car my 4 speed is really tight trying to slip shims in.

[BB70]

I believe you should have a gap of .030 or so at the bottom of every tooth that is fully engaged. You can take the solenoid off, bolt up the starter and manually engage the starter drive to inspect-measure. At least that should get you pretty close.
John

[squidtone]

When looking at the 1967 Pontiac Service Manual, it implies that shims are only used on automatic equipped cars. So when I converted my TH400 automatic car to a 4 speed; I omitted the shims that were on my starter for the changeover and I encountered no problems at all.
I surmised that the Service Manual implies this because a manual trans flywheel and press on ring gear are much more accurate in size compared to the stamped steel plate/welded ring gear flexplate found on automatics.
I must admit however that I have never heard anyone make this "shims on automatics only" distinction about fitting a starter motor to a Pontiac car.
I'm wondering if anyone else will weigh in on this.

[1966geeto]

tried to do that firs go round had a bad mismatch starter zing ended up having to use a 0.40 shim I would like to put a mini starter in but the funds are just not there right now.On 4 speeds very tight to get a shim in.

[GT182]

No starter shims in my 4 speed 66 GTO either. No problems.

[Andre]

Its a bit random in nature of just how much shims are needed. Usually the HELP package has various thicknesses of shims. I typically start with none and hope for the best. You could do the same, or take a guess.

[Old Blue 66]

Ive heard that same thing about no shims on manual trans cars but Ive never tried it. I too would wing it with no shims.

[geeteeohguy]

I've had a bunch of these cars, all '65-'67's, and none of the stick cars (my current '65 included) have ever used or needed shims. Virtually ALL of the automatic cars (including my current '67) required shims.

[Jeff Hamlin]

This info; is in all factory service manuals.
Shims on AT only.

[carcrazy]

Every auto car I've owned required shims.

[400 4spd.]

Put a stock starter on my automatic GP two weeks ago and needed shims on it. When running a mini starter it needed no shims.

[1966geeto]

As usual mine is different my starter wont engage without shimming it away from the eng have 2 starters both of them do the same thing.

Was there any reason you went away from the mini starter ?

[400 4spd.]

The mini failed on me, so I have to get it checked out.

[1966geeto]

What brand did you go with ?

[Old Blue 66]

I just got my car back from a friend whith a really nice shop at home and besides some other work, I had him change the starter. Its a mini unit. The one that I had someone else pit in didnt use any shims and my friend told me that the gears were way too far in. In his 40 years of GTO building, he always uses shims. We just had this conversation last night and I thought of this thread. Thought Id share.

[lust4speed]

I've used shims on my 4-speed to get things right.

Shims correct for manufacturing tolerances that happen in all machining processes. Even if the engine tolerances were perfect, if the starter body was machined a little short then shims are going to be needed. Also consider what happens when the block is line bored during the rebuild.

[1966geeto]

Saw a guy use whiteout to get a depth reading on the gears similar to using grease on a ring and pinion to see the pinion depth maybe I will try it just for the hell of it. I just hate it when the starter zings and you get that look like what's wrong with your car..