I bought most of my 71 442 in pieces. It came with the starter and one long brace which appears to bolt to the side of the starter and to the block itself. I believe most people over the years just threw these away when stater work was being done. My dilemma comes from the assembly manual and the CSM if I remember correctly, which indicates an additional small bracket along with a stud. These were not with my car and I can't decipher how these are attached. Can't I just bolt the long brace and be done with it? Thanks.

 

If you don't have manual trans, you can just use the bolt at the bottom, to the starter. Make sure it's SHORT enough that it does not protrude into the starter and damage the internals.

On the assembly manual drawing, the little thin lines show the order in which the parts install.

If you have Manual Trans, you need a place to anchor the front end of the clutch return spring. That's what that tab is for. When I ran into this issue on the '69 Cutlass conversion to MT, I just made a stud out of an old GM bolt and a nut, and fabricated the tab out of some other old GM car parts. A chunk of metal with 2 holes in it.

You'd like to use a jam nut [thin nut] to make your own stud, if at all possible. It's 5/16", so you can't use the readily available 3/8" intake boltstud. Might be able to use a water pump boltstud, thought they usually have an unthreaded portion that is not conducive to the job.

Maybe Fusick's offers this part ready to use.

Fabricating the wireform connector that anchors the spring to the clutch fork was not nearly as easy.

 

Hey Brian
I'm familiar with the two styles of braces, the thin strap you have or the wider shield that can reduce the head soaking of the starter from the exhaust. Both braces are available from Fusick, page 58 of their catalog.

I've not seen the stud your asking about before. Someone else can speak up if they know its purpose, but I think you could use either brace and be fine.

John

 

Thanks guys. Mine is a T400 so it uses just the strap as in my picture. The other setup with the stud is for the manual cars. Got it.

 

Still, be sure to use a SHORT bolt into the starter. The wall of the starter is about 0.2" [4-5mm] thick, and just a ways past that is electrical coils, I believe. The upper end brace bolt is also short, 3/8 dia., but it has quite a bit of clearance behind the boss. I believe it is short because that's enough, and because it is a PITA to get to, so the less to deal with, the better. Ratcheting wrench may be required.

 

Ok, I'll definetly watch for the bolt length, thanks again for the warning.