Originally Posted by AussieinNC (Post 8189010)

Good old heat soak...

1/ Wrap the headers in heat wrap tape at least a foot in front of the starter and six inches behind the starter. Make it a double wrap thickness and secure it with hose clamps or wire.
2/ Replace the primary starter cable with a #2 cable, making sure it has totally clean connection ends.
3/ Replace the ground cable between engine block and battery ground, again, make sure contact surfaces are really clean.
4/ Check and clean all other ground cables making sure all connections are really clean.
5/ Double check battery charge rate is at least 14.2 volts at the battery itself with the engine running around 1500 rpm.
6/ Check static timing and set at 8 degrees at idle,,,idle being 650 to 700 rpm.
7/ If above fails, replace starter with small format reduction gear style starter that also has a heat shield built into its design.

Above all...have FUN !!!!

:chevy::chevy::chevy:
:gmc2::gmc2::gmc2:

Originally Posted by CC69Rat (Post 8189452)

Does the truck have headers on it?

Originally Posted by dmjlambert (Post 8189124)

Yes, true if you have a plain wire supplying full 12V to the distributor, to replace the original resistor wire. What do both sides of your positive battery cable look like, and both sides of the negative battery cable? Can you post pictures? I misdiagnosed a starter problem because of a bad battery cable on my truck last year. Other people on the thread have talked about their headers, but didn't ask you if you have headers.

Originally Posted by AussieinNC (Post 8189565)

Would suggest you replace the starter with a small format reduction style unit...new...not reman...

Grab a heat shield for it while you are ordering it...

Even without headers, the exhaust pipe will likely be putting too much heat onto older fat style starter...

Also...make sure there is a starter end support strap fitted and correctly in place...

GM part number is GM 23502557...most wholesalers carry them...even Amazon...

I have witnessed so many engine block damage scenarios with bolt holes stripped or broken out due to missing brackets...

:chevy::chevy::chevy:

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man (Post 8191087)

Post a pic of your engine ,

Does it look like this http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=509243

or this http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=457938

It all makes a difference , next time you have a hard to crank issue use a set of jumper cables and hook them directly to the starter + post and a solid ground - next to the starter , get in turn the key and if it starts fine its your battery cables/ connections , If it still starts hard it's your starter is suffering heat sink . you can't ground your system to a valve cover . why jump to parts suppliers like jegs when anyone of your local auto parts stores carry exactly what you need just down the street ? personally I'd just go buy a new mini starter and a new set of good battery cables and be done with it , :smoke:

So many get hooked on setting up their 50 year old truck by the numbers the book say 8 degrees timing BUT it just may run better at 6 or 10 . these aren't computer driven systems . It's called tuning for a reason ...

Originally Posted by 57Suburb (Post 8193862)

You've already had several tell you the same thing already, but I had exactly the same problem, went through all the same steps to make sure it wasn't something simple, and ended up purchasing and installing one of these. Starter from a 98 Tahoe. Problem solved.