Q about starter heat shields

[~The Jester~]

These guys hit the nail on the head with the starters. Another thing to check, might want to reach in there and yank a couple degrees timing out of it too.

[Ieatcamaros]

Jester beat me to it. I was thinking the same thing as I was reading. What is your timing set at? Heat shields do wonders too.

[5.0 Fiend]

The car is an 84, so I imagine thr starter is that old, also I am running shorty headers.
What do you guys mean by timing? Ignition? Cam? I dont have a timing light, should probably get one, I just take the number one plug out, jump the starter solenoid to get the cylinder on the compression stroke to top dead center, then I point the rotor to that wire and do a quarter mile run (estimated), and keep adjusting the dist. till I am happy with the results. Why would the timing affect the engine when hot, but not cold? The next time it happens, should I try to retard the dist timing a little bit? I guess I'll try a heat shield to see If I can pull a little more life out of the starter.

[andy669]

Advanced ignition timing will cause the slow crank syndrome like you are experiencing. That would have been my first guess.

Andy

[5.0 Fiend]

Why would advanced timing do this? Are you saying that if the advanced timing was the culprit, that it would still only happen when hot? Would the answer be that when the engine is turning over it has to work harder because the compression and power stroke are getting pushed closer together? (meaning that when the engine is trying to compress, the advanced spark wants to start the power stroke thus causing strain for the weak stock starter)?

[82 GT]

First of all, every guy that works on his own car should at least have a timing light.
If your timing is too high, your engine will struggle to turn over even when cold and damn near impossible when hot.
My guess is that your starter is getting heat soaked now that you have shorties and I'm assuming flowmaster exhaust.
Get rid of that big bulky starter and buy a mini starter for a '94GT.
I had this same problem with starters when I got my flowmaster exhaust and shorties. Since I switched to a mini starter, my problem is gone. I'm willing to bet that you have the same problem.
Trust me, get rid of that antique starter you have.
I can tell you what wires you need to switch around if you decide to go with a mini starter from a newer mustang.

[rwhite65]

First, the mini starter is nice, bought one out of the junk yard for $35 and it now rest in the 65.

I can not explain as nearly as good as these guys as to why the advanced timing makes it start slow, but I can tell you this. If it is advanced to far, it will do it when the car is hot vs. cold.
Ryan