Starter Heat Soak

I have been battling starter heat soak due to exhaust mods to make my car CA smog legal. When my car was hot, it would take 2 to 3 tries to get the starter to turn over. Some months back I bought one of those $90.00 Ebay mini starters, it was not really mini but larger than the stock unit.

Well, I installed it today with great results. The car now starts within three cranks and starts perfectly when hot. The starter I purchased is adjustable, I was able to move the solenoid as far as possible away from the RH exhaust collector pipe, I also wrapped the starter for additional heat shielding.

could someone help flip the switch on the light bulb over my head on how heat soak on the start would cause it to require more cranking for the engine to turn over? expansion makes the teeth slip on the flywheel?

i have no idea.

Link to starter, I still have this issue and was afraid to buy the low price unit that I was looking at on ebay.

pormgb wrote:...When my car was hot, it would take 2 to 3 tries to get the starter to turn over....

Maybe Pormgb will elaborate, but I read this as saying the starter is not engaging the flywheel or turning at all due to heat. This could be caused by a Bendix that is locking up, a seized bushing, hung-up com brush or other electrical issues.

When starters get to hot they do some what shut down. I had this problem with a big block and headers, as soon as the starter cooled, good to go. Most starters have heat sheild to help prevent this issue. Just my 2cents worth.

948 wrote:

pormgb wrote:...When my car was hot, it would take 2 to 3 tries to get the starter to turn over....

Maybe Pormgb will elaborate, but I read this as saying the starter is not engaging the flywheel or turning at all due to heat. This could be caused by a Bendix that is locking up, a seized bushing, hung-up com brush or other electrical issues.

Sure,

The starter engages but turns very slowly (solenoid working, starter engaging with flywheel), the more times I turn the key to the start position, the faster the starter turns. So first time very slow and sometimes stops, second time a bit faster but not fast enough for me to feel comfortable about stating, third time fast enough to start.

If I get the car started, then shut it down and try to restart the motor, the same thing happens again.

When the starter is turning slowly, it feels like its draining all available amps from the battery or the battery is low (could be that too much heat causes excessive current draw). If you look at many LS threads, you get pointed to battery/grounding issues but I know its heat related.