• Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.

C5 Starter dilemma

Rich Z

Rich Z

Internet Sanitation Engineer
Staff member
Has anyone installed an aftermarket starter on their C5? I've been looking over the options available to replace my starter with and I'm leaning towards the Powermaster XS 9509. Reviews seem to be favorable, and it has some benefits with fitment that may be helpful being compatible with headers.

But I'm a bit puzzled by the wiring. The 9509 appears to only have two electrical terminals, yet the stock starter has three. So I'm not real sure about what to do with that extra wire I will wind up having. I searched for install instruction on the 9509 but what I am reading there doesn't really give me a warm and fuzzy. Saying it may or may not be needed...

http://www.powermastermotorsports.com/025___GMMiniSta.pdf

So anyone been down this road before?
 

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The "third wire" is probably going to turn out to be the ground. That's the
stud on the right in your second picture......the one that doesn't look like
it has a wire on it. The Powermaster is probably internally grounded and
picks up it's ground from the engine block. Easy enough to check out on
your existing starter when you pull it out. Just my thoughts.........
Andy :wavey:
 
Actually there is a wire on that stud, but yes, it is hard to see. You can see the flange of the connector underneath the nut on that stud. Here, I found a pic that identifies the wires. But yes, perhaps you are right about the aftermarket being internally grounded, even though the installation instructions don't mention that as far as I can see. I did send an email to Powermaster to see if they can enlighten me about this.
 

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I remember mini high torque gear reduction starters for small block and big block Chevys back in the 70's and 80's. I even considered putting one on my 71 Z/28 as it had a 383 stroker with 11:1 compression and went through several starters. As it turned out it was more of a heat from the headers problem and I made a heat shield that finally corrected it. They've been around for a while but I don't recall any one brand standing out.
 
Yeah, I'm going to put a heat shield around the starter when I put the new one in. I've already wrapped the headers and they have been ceramic coated, so the combination should help keep heat down on the starter quite a bit.
 
Well, I'm guessing the photos I have been looking at were just misleading. It looks like the solenoid does really only have two terminals connecting to the outside world. (1) The hotside wire going to the positive side of the battery, and (2) The trigger wire that activates the solenoid (which is nothing more than just a relay) which connects the juice from the battery to the other terminal going to the starter motor itself when you you turn the key or press the button to START the engine.

This can be much more easily seen in the following pic.
 

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In case anyone tries to find the long starter bolts, ARP makes them with the part number #430-3511.

Threading is M10x1.5 x 114mm long. Stainless steel.
 
BTW, I have the 2009 C6 Z06 up on the lift doing an oil change, and took a look at the starter on it. Fortunately it has the two long bolts instead of the problematical short bolt and long bolt of earlier models.
 
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