[LifeLongWNYer]

The starter on my 305 ( '64 K1500 ) has been acting up, last week it quit, so I decided to remove it and have it rebuilt. Well, it had more problems than I expected, and the rebuilder replaced virtually every part, except for the housing.

When I pulled the starter out, I ended up with two shims, the rectangular ones, with a rounded notch and a hole at one end. The rebuilder, who has been in business for quite a while was surprized when I mentioned the shims, and said he'd never seen them used with a starter that mounts as the 305 does, rather he usually sees them when the started is mounted with two bolts both of which go up, from the bottom of the starter, and vertically into the block.

In any event, he said that without information to the contrary, since the shims came out of the starter, I should put them back in. ( I am pretty sure one shim was between the starter nose and the face of the flywheel housing, over the top and the bottom starter mounting bolts, I could see the imprints of them in the stains on the starter mounting face. )

Sooo, since the starter is essentially a new starter, should I put the shims back in, or not? How do I know if one shim ( at each position ) is enough, too much, or not enough. By the way, the rebuilder said the wear pattern on the starter drive gear was "very good", nice and even, and it indicated no alignment problems, which he said is another reason to reuse the shims.

So what say the experts?


JBP
Rush, NY