[68ragtop]

Just curious if the 301 cars are know to have a noisier starter engagement & cranking sound than other, larger Pontiac engines. Does not seem like they should, but my 1980 Turbo car has exactly that. Always been that way. Last weekend I had it up on the lift & decided to install another starter I had on the shelf to see if it would be any better. Nope, sounded the same, but spun over a little faster. So I adding shims until I was dang near halfway out of the root of the teeth & it still was whiny sounding. I put some marking grease on the flywheel teeth & adjusted it until the pattern was about 2/3's into the teeth. No real improvement in sound & there is nothing I can put my finger on for the cause. I just know my 400 automatic cars, don't sound that high pitched.

I never cared enough to look into it before, but now that I opened up the worm box, I would like to figure out what is different if anything from the other Pontiac engines.

Any thoughts? Anyone else with a 301 car that has noticed that? Or am I just being too fussy......

68RT

[77 TRASHCAN]

You might have been too far out on the adjustment to start with. Once in a great while, some material needs to be filed off the mating surface of the starter. to make the mesh correct. I've seen it on Chevrolet's.

[FrankieT/A]

Your flexplate may need a shim. A lot of Pontiac engines have shims between the flexplate and the crank.

[78w72]

i have a 81 turbo t/a & it cranks over nice & quiet, just like my 400 t/a or any other pontiac engine cars ive owned. must be something else causing the noise.

[68ragtop]

I'll pull the starter back out & look at things a little closer & see if I can tell whats causing the misalignment.

Thanks guys!

[Skip Fix]

I had a 301 starter nose crack.

[68ragtop]

Does the 301 have the same diameter flywheel as the 350 or 400? I have a 400 starter that has a bigger nose & uses the two long bolts rather than the one short one. I never noticed that before.

[Skip Fix]

I think mine had one long one and one short one.

[68ragtop]

Well, the problem was right in front of me & I never noticed it. The angle of the started gear was tipped downward. I put gear pattern paste on the flex plate & was surprised to see how little of the teeth the starter was touching. No wonder it was so noisy. Interestly both the 301 starter that was in the car & the 400 starter I installed fit the same way. I carefully removed material off the starter nose mounting surface until it was level, then shimmed to get 1/8" clearance from the gear to the starter shaft & what a difference. Sounds completely normal now. Hard to believe I have lived with that for nearly 20 years. Just never bothered me enough to look into it.

The 400 starter spins it over a little too fast, but works fine & sound normal now.

Here is the contact pattern, the modification & in the last picture you can see how the nose now is perpendicular with the flexplate.

[Skip Fix]

I looked at my 301 starter that broke and it was one short bolt one long bolt. The replacement same part number was two long bolts!

[68ragtop]

I'll bet seeing both noses will bolt up, the smaller (assuming weaker?) style will probably go away if it hasn't already?

Did the mounting surface of yours seem to be perpendicular to the motor housing? Mine was not.