Quote:
Originally Posted by Formulajones
If the starter has worn bushings that allows the armature to drag on the winding shoes it will cause a hot start issue, as heat seems to multiply the issue, but will still work find when cold. Sometimes the reman starters today aren't much better or don't seem to last as long.
I usually rebuild them myself with a good quality kit and feel it's a better result than some of the reman stuff out there now.
I run a stock starter on my Pontiac that I rebuilt 20 years ago, and have had both headers and RA manifolds on the car with no heat shielding on anything at all.....drive the car all the time and never an issue, even with initial timing jacked up.
You've done everything else but the starter.....I'm betting it's worn inside and pulling too many amps.
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Probably this, it doesn't take too much wear on the bushings to drag the armature on the fields and as has been said they will crank fine when cold, and the armature will slow down with heat soak. Good way to tell is tear the starter down and see if there are witness marks on the armature where it's dragged on the fields.
I also rebuild my own starters, so I know what's in there and it's done properly. I've never used a mini starter on any of my cars race or street, but from what's been said on PY they seem to work fine.
Make sure you have the high torque GM starter because the low torque one will not crank any Pontiac engine well, no matter what compression it is. The high torque starter has the long screw with a copper tubing spacer between the solenoid and the field connection.
Other than making absolutely sure all your connections are clean so there is a minimum amount of resistance. You can't just look at the connection and think it's clean, you must disassemble them and clean them. They can look just fine until you take them apart.
I agree 4 G is pretty small wire for a Pontiac V8, probably at the edge of being too small of a gauge wire. The crappy cables sold at most parts stores may look new and shiny, but many times aren't nearly as good as OEM cables were.
GeeTeeohguy has a good theory also, the wire going down to energize the solenoid gets a lot of heat and people drop the starter and let it hang by those wires breaking strands inside of the insulation. If that wire is degraded it will also affect the starter when hot.