Starter shims
 

After reading through the Pontiac service manual it doesn't mention anything about shims for a starter unless it's an automatic. My car is a manual and when I took off the old starter there were shims. Since putting the new starter I did not put shims and it works great , am I going to have any problems without shims?:confused:

Does it make any weird noises? Works good?
Drive it...........

The shims line the starter gear up with the flywheel. Usually you put back the number of shims you found in there. If it doesn't make any noise when you start it, I guess you are fine.

If you switched starters,you may or may not need shims.Manually engage the gear into the fly wheel.and stick a wire gauge of about .0025"(it should be .0020-.0030" clearance).A std size paper clip is about .0025"and works fine for a gauge.But as slowgto mentioned,if you don't have any weird noise,and the starter is engaging and dis-engaging properly,the chances are you're good to go.

Mine is a 4 sp too. The starter I got with the car in 93' had no shims and no problems(but I repaced it because it was old). I have replaced my starter twice since owning the car though (I've put 40K on it). It seems the replacement starters you get from your local auto parts stores have been machined at the mounting point to true that surface.The parts guy told me this happens from previous owners over torquing the mounting bolts. I had to shim my last starter with 3 (the max amount)shims to get it to engage properly. I also had to temporally remove the return spring on the clutch to install the shims. Just another little thing .
Hope this helps,
George

No noises works fine I am going to leave it alone. Thanks to all