Starter Heat sheild

[jafco]

Hello everyone, I have a 2003 LS crewcab. My starter went bad and as I was replacing it I noticed that there was no heat shield between the exhaust manifold and the starter. Not sure if the previous owner removed it or it did not have one to begin with. Did some searching on the internet but did not find anything. Ran across this site which is cool though. So do you guys have heat shields in the area between the starter and exhaust? Thanks in advance for your help.

[HenryJ]

welcome aboard
I really don't recall a heat shield for the starter on these trucks. I have seen small shields for the solenoid on one or two V-8 engines. I fabbed a couple shields for a couple engines. In the end the high torque mini starters were the answer to solving a heated starter problem. I would go that route in a second if I needed to do it again The HenryJ went through several starters due to heat. The headers get red hot on a good pass. Once I went to a gear reducted mini starter , It lives happily ever after

[jafco]

Henryj, appreciate the info. I replaced the OEM unit with a Remy that has "specialized planetary gear design". The motor is alot smaller than the original making it really easy to install. The old one was kind of a tight getting it out. Hopefully this one will last for awhile.

[HenryJ]

Sounds like the right answer! You were already ahead of us