Hi-Torque Mini Starter - Starting In The Right Direction

If you find yours requires a different position, simply remove the bolts with a 4mm hex-head wrench and rotate, and torque the bolts to 95 lbs/in. We suggest waiting to measure pinion-to-ring gear clearance before applying final torque, however.

We bolted the IMI starter to the block using the supplied hardware and a 5/16-inch hex-head wrench to measure pinion-to-ring-gear clearance using a feeler gauge. The gap should measure at between 0.040 and 0.1 inch.

Included in IMI's starter kit are 0.074-inch circular shims that fit between the solenoid and aluminum mounting block. They are used to gain additional clearance between pinion gear and flywheel if the gap is too tight. We made sure that final torque (95 lb/in) was applied to the bolts after this step was complete.

We bolted the starter back in place to measure pinion-to-ring-gear backlash. A range of 0.020 to 0.030 inches is acceptable, and a normal No. 1 paperclip is the perfect thickness at 0.025 inches. We manually forced the pinion gear rearward with large screwdriver and locked it in place with another that's out of view in this photo.

This diagram showing how to properly measure backlash is from the instruction sheet that IMI supplies with the starter.

IMI provides starter shims in various sizes to properly set backlash. We simply loosened the starter bolt closest to the block and removed the other, then added or subtracted shims, retightened, and re-measured until backlash was in the suggested range. Our particular combination requires a shim pack of 0.083 inches to achieve 0.025 inches of backlash.

Our '67 Firebird was originally equipped with a points-type distributor, but it had been converted to HEI by the time we purchased it. The black resistor wire wasn't connected to the starter any longer and the original 12-volt ignition-switch lead (orange wire) already had an aftermarket connector on it. We simply spliced into it and added the connector supplied by IMI.

With the starter loosely bolted to the block, we attached the large battery power lead to its terminal on the starter motor and clipped the ignition switch wire into place.

We tightened the mounting bolts to 25 ft-lb and reinstalled the inspection cover. After checking to ensure that no wires were lying against the exhaust system, we connected the ground cable to its battery post and cranked the engine over. Beyond the normal high-pitched starter whine, all is normal. The engine fires easily without the least hint of dragging on hot-restart, putting a permanent end to the frustration!