Starer Drive Housings---Part 1

[Joe L.]

Over the course of the 1963-82 period there were 3 basic designs of starter drive housings used for Corvettes. However, there were several different part numbers used for each design. For the most part, there were really only very subtle differences between each part number for any basic design and most of the differences are pretty much indiscernible with the starter mounted on the engine. Nevertheless, since I have NOS examples of all of the starter drive housings [none for sale] and since I was able to get at them without too much of a hassle, I thought I'd present them here.

In Part 1 I'll cover the cast iron housing used from 1966-1981 on Corvettes. In Part 2 I'll cover the aluminum housing used from 1962-1972. In Part 3 I'll cover the aluminum housing used from 1970-1982 for Corvettes with Turbohydramatic transmissions.

Now, for Part 1: The cast iron starter drive housing was used for the following Corvette applications:

1966-68-----all 427 except L-88

1969---------all applications except L-88/ZL-1

1970-81-----all manual trans applications except ZR-1

There were 3 different part numbers for the cast iron housings used over the 1966-81 period. 1966-1969 used GM #1965721. 1970-1981 used GM #1969309 which was also SERVICE for 1966-69 after October, 1969. Lastly, SERVICE-only housing GM #1984098 replaced the 1969309 in 1984 and is now GM-discontinued. All of these housings used 2 starter bolts of GM #3733289 for attachment to the engine block. These bolts were 3-5/8" long.

This photo pictures all 3 of the housings side-by-side:



The GM #1965721 is pictured below. Note the open-ended bushing race:



The GM #1969309 is pictured below. Note the end of the bushing race is plugged with a soft plug. I do not attribute anything meaningful to the casting marks which may appear on these housings:



The GM #1984098 is pictured below. Note that it also has a soft plug installed in the end of the bushing race.

[Chris H.]

[Joe L.]

Re: Starer Drive Housings---Part 1

Thanks Joe, very interesting. In the attached photo, have you seen this type of nose before? I pulled it of a ‘69 L71. I know it’s not original to the car but I’m curious. It’s the motor on the left.

Chris------


Yes, I have seen the "3 hole" housings before. I'm virtually certain they were never originally used on a Corvette (the 3 that I pictured are the only ones that GM says were ever used on a Corvette). I think these "3 hole" housings were originally used on some truck applications or on some non-Chevrolet GM applications. Of course, they can be installed on a Corvette using only 2 bolt locations. I can't tell from the photo-----does it have a soft plug on the end of the bushing race?

[Chris H.]

[Joe L.]

Re: Starer Drive Housings---Part 1

Here’s a closeup.

Chris------


Well, looks like neither one has a soft plug. So, that would likely mean that both housings are pre-1970. Of course, it's possible that one or both of the housings have been through a commercial rebuilding operation and they knocked out the soft plug to make bushing replacement easier.

With starters that have been through a commercial rebuilding operation, "all bets are off" as far as whether any of the components are original to the starter frame (the part with the numbers on it). Most commercial rebuilders, except custom rebuilders, strip starter cores down to components and build up rebuilt starters from bins of individual components much in the same way that new starters were originally assembled.