[6 Grrrs]

Originally Posted by hgerhardt

Can't do that because you'd only need to move the starter outboard .300 or so, which isn't far enough away. You'd drill partway into the original holes. Now, if you want to fill the holes and start over, well that's possible. But I wouldn't want to do it to MY block!



That got me thinking... I drew it out in Catia and found we'd need roughly a .750 spacer. That's actually do-able. I THINK that the window where the ring gear goes into is big enough to accommodate that much mismatch. The torque converter water shield wouldn't fit... but who uses those anyway? Maybe I'll pick up a junkyard starter and do some testing.

Originally Posted by hgerhardt

See the link in my original post. 91-2001 3800 supercharged.


And as for the beer-types...

The 301 starter puts the solenoid in the same location as the earlier starters. So, that's out, since that's where the interference is with Doug's round port headers. Besides, I doubt it will crank a 11.5:1 428 very well.

Filling/drilling new holes in the block... maybe if the engine were out of the car. But, that won't help me either 'cause moving the Buick starter outboard will also cause interference with the header tube.

I too am interested in this. When I was putting my GTO together, I wanted a modern gear reduction starter (I have run a 4.3L V6 starter on my 454 for 10 years without issue). I spoke to my local starter guy. He got a Buick nose for my Chevy starter. Problem is like you described. It would work with a smaller flywheel. He was looking into fixing it, but I havent talked to him in a while.

Keep me posted on what you find. I'd be interested in a spacer if you come up with something. I do not want to modify the block in any way.