RA exhaust manifold to starter clearance.
 

My driver's side manifold is right touching the solenoid heat shield.
Has anyone ever put TWO of the Remflex gaskets on that side to move it the thickness of the gasket ?

Any time I'm tempted to use stacked gaskets I think about the fact that I've just doubled the number of sealing surfaces that may leak.
Have you considered a mini-starter? I swapped mine for an IMI couple of years ago and love it. I chose the IMI because the connection lugs are opposite the manifold.

That's probably because I have always understood that heat shields were for standard manifolds, and NEVER used with the RA manifolds;
There is no room for them behind the RA manifolds.

I had a reproduction factory solenoid heat shield on my factory starter with D-port RA manifolds for years. Seemed to fit ok.

+1 to the mini starter. I have a Powermaster which works well, but the connections are on the manifold side which I don't love. If I were to do it again, I'd go with an IMI or RobbMc.

Now that I think about it I had a shield on my stock starter with RAs too.. I only went with the mini two or three years ago.

Well it's a small shield that is curved around the solenoid, I probably got it from Ames. I'm not sure that it was going to be a heating problem as it's a new install on the RA's. Without the small shield it would not touch but be darn close. I've re-installed the RA with 2 gaskets (had to remove the starter) so tomorrow I'll re-install it to see if I gained anything. At least I don't have to shim it again.

I look at it this way;
Adding the shield, weather it touches or not, reduces the area around the solenoid for air to move;
The shield may slow the transfer of heat slightly while the engine is initially heating up;
But once up to temperature and running, that shield will also heat up and radiate heat that much closer to the solenoid.

Maybe my logic is bunk, but I had understood that this was in essence why the cars build with RA manifolds did not receive any sort of heat shield.

It may also be worth mentioning that with the different repop manifolds out there now, it would seem logical that the castings may differ from originals, and permit a shield to fit without touching... but if that is the case, wouldn't that also permit more air movement around the solenoid?

From 1967 GTO/Tempest assembly manual:

Yes that's the one I have. Despite the fact the RA manifolds have a GM casting number, it was hitting.

The extra gasket just BARELY produce an air gap but IMO it worked.

My manifolds have a GM casting number so it's my opinion they were cast on the same spec mold. I added the OE style shield as depicted in the assembly manual submitted by Keith, so it's my logic that they had them from the factory.

I went ahead and did the 2 gaskets and it barely cleared. IF it blows out (it might) I will likely get a mini-starter due to the mods my engine has I wasn't thinking about.
I was wrapped up on trying to get it finished and didn't dwell on the why, as it was there before me to assemble. So this morning I was thinking about it.
It dawned on me that when I had the heads off my deck clearance was -.005" on the affected side (zero on the other side).
It's .060" oversized so they are aftermarket pistons with a 1.7" compression height spec. Accepted stock deck height is 10.240".
1.7" + 6.625" rod + 1.875 = 10.2 so it was decked .045" on that side as it was -.005". PLUS the heads were milled an unknown amount by the PO. PLUS the ex side of the heads appeared to have been milled flat. All of this would affect clearance. NOW I'm not surprised.
Those are the only things I can figure that would have affected my clearance.

SO

If one is contemplating milling the deck, block, ex manifold face on the head OR the manifold, consider it WILL affect your clearance as it did mine.

I used the factory shield on the solenoid that Keith showed on the assembly manual so I believe the WERE used on the RA manifolds. :mad:

Apparently I'm restricted to one like per page but I did find your replay helpful.