The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Hi-Torque/ Gear Reduction Starters

Curious about these things. Any direct experience with them….good/bad/otherwise?

Only useful if you have very high compression and/or have some exhaust clearance issue and traditional starter won’t work? Or useful in more common applications as well?

Concept kinda makes sense in my brain, but the natural skeptic in me also wonders if it’s a gimmick.

I have avoided these as from what I've been told you can expect a generous serving of smoke/mirrors a la P.T. Barnum. As for problems, friends have told me these things went wrong for them: flywheel teeth ruined, starter overheated, starter wore out quickly (especially starter gear...which left them stranded) and overheated and intermittent operation. So, on a basic inline Chevy 6? I'd say no way but others may have other ideas. I categorize them as the Pertronix of starters and like Pertronix I am not interested.

We used them on high compression racing engines- - - -both for torque, and weight reduction. Noisy, and pretty short life- - - - -but those engines weren't intended to last more than about half a season. A round track engine with 1K miles on it was an antique! Like a lot of similar things, doing race stuff on a street machine is stupid squared!
Jerry

I tend to agree with Jon on this. A fairly stock inline 6 doesn't require that much torque to crank over or requires a highr=er spped to start. I have however, used and am using a a gear reduction starter on a couple of V8's. One is a built 327 with a higher compression, the other is a mild 454, that one was for added exhaust clearance as you suggested. I have had good service from both and haven't encountered any issues.

Just for clarity, I wasn’t specifically thinking about our beloved inline 6 engines when I asked. In fact, I don’t know if they’re even produced for a Stovebolt.

Something along the lines of Craig’s application was the context for my question. SBC with some mild-ish upgrades.

One other note...you're aware Chevy/GM made a higher torque starter, yes? A stock production unit. It isn't mentioned here much but the tip-off is the rear part of the starter case...otherwise they look very similar and this at a quick glance might be confusing. The higher torque starter had a different case (you will see the part at the rear where it tapers and changes diameter is different) and the easiest clue is how the solenoid connects. In the standard starter the solenoid connects right to the piece that comes out of the starter. But in the higher torque starter the piece that comes out of the starter sits further back to GM cleverly made a spacer to connect it...maybe 3/4 of an inch long as I remember. Maybe so the same solenoid could be used on either one. There was something different about the front part (the cone that inserts into the bell housing), but I can't remember what that was...different bolt pattern? These were used on V8s and on some (maybe all) there was a rear mounting piece you needed to use for stability...it bolted onto the block. You can't swap these...I remember that. One will engage with the flywheel correctly and one won't. Sorry...we're talking over 50 years here. Maybe Jerry or Craig will remember.

Didn’t know GM had a factory version.

I was aware of the Mopar ones. They sound like an angry dolphin.

The original Mopar reduction gear starters for Hemis were known as the Highland Park Hummingbird due to it's high pitched whine.

The heavy duty Chevrolet V8 starter was used on big blocks, HD trucks, and the 6.2/6.5 diesel. The windings were longer and the copper bushing for the solenoid made up the difference in length. The support bracket bolted to one of the "thru bolts" and then to the block to support the extra weight of the bigger starter.

The high torque GM starter has a housing a little longer than the standard one, and there was a 3/4" long copper tube between the solenoid and the motor connector. Aftermarket replacement solenoids came with that spacer included, which could be used or not, depending on which starter we were repairing. There is also a GM starter with permanent magnets instead of field coils with a much smaller housing diameter. It used a planetary gear reduction section between the armature shaft and the drive pinion. Its only advantage was a considerable weight reduction over the ones with field coils.
Jerry