87-375-3 April 1998 All About Starter Shims (and No Shims) In this issue we’ll look at the various uses of starter shims. Most of the discussion will center on the 2mm shim used in a number of Delco starters, but we will also mention the thin 1mm (.040″) and .015″ shims used by Delco. Then we’ll look at a shim you can use in older Ford applications and a shim used by Jeep in certain applications. Delco shim / no shim The problem started when Delco produced a few different versions of some of their starters. Some of these versions require 2mm shims and some don’t. To make matters even more interesting, Delco has some- times moved from version to version without doing a supersession. As a result, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about which of these starters require shims and which don’t. Hopefully the following information will straighten out some of this confusion. Note that the shim/no shim question does not apply to all engines. As you can see in Tables 1 – 6 below, only six starters with passenger-car applica- tions and two 27MTs with diesel applications have shim/no shim versions. You will also note that there are no V8 gas engines included in this list. In all six tables, the left columns show how Delco superseded the D.E. housings and the right columns show how Delco superseded the complete starters. Table 1. For 3.0L and 3.8L V6 engines First we’ll look at starters for the 3.0L and 3.8L V6 engines from GM. The starter for this application from 1986 to 1995 is a SMT series (WAIR #2-1516- DR). In 1996 Delco introduced an SD255 series starter for the 3.8L V6 engine (WAIR #2-1797-DR). All these starters use a WAI #51-1100 D.E. housing with a straight-across mounting bolt pattern (E mounting configuration) (Table 1, below). As you can see in Table 1, when Delco superseded starter #10455006 (shim) to #10455024 (no shim) they introduced the no-shim D.E. housing #10467574 but did not show a supersession from the D.E. housing #10495877 (shim). The D.E. housing #10467574 (no shim) was then superseded to #10456437 (no shim). 51-1100 2-1516-DR (SMT with E Mtg. Config.) Delco DEHsg| Type Replaced by | Type Delco Starter # Type Replaced by | Type 10495879 Shim 10495877 Shim 1998521 Shim 10455006 Shim 1998544 Shim 10455006 Shim 10495877 Shim No supersession 10455006 Shim 10455024 No shim 10467574 No shim | 10456437 No shim | 10455024 No shim 51-1100 2-1797-DR (SD255 with E Mtg. Config.) 10456437 No shim 10455066 No shim y fai | Wetherill Associates, Inc. 1101 Enterprise Drive Royersford, PA 19468 800-877-3340 Care is taken to ensure the accuracy of information presented here, but Wetherill Associates, Inc., assumes no responsibility for possible errors. Copyright © 1998 Wetherill Associates, Inc. 6137 Technical Update 37 page 2 Table 2. For 2.2L L4 and 3.1L V6 engines Next we’ll look at the starter for GM’s 2.2L L4 and 3.1L V6 engines (engine code M) The starter for these engines is a Delco SD210 series (WAIR # 2-1412-DR). These starters use a WAI #51-105 D.E. housing with a straight-across mounting bolt pattern (again, an E mounting configuration) (Table 2, below). As you can see in Table 2, when Delco superseded starter #10455048 (shim) to #10455053 (no shim) they also superseded the D.E. housing #10467736 (shim) to #10475298 (no shim). 51-105 I Table 2. 51-105 2-1412-DR (SD210 with E Mtg. Config.) Delco DE Hsg Replaced by| Type Delco Starter # | Type Replaced by; Type 10467736 10475298 No shim | 10455010 Shim 10455048 Shim 10455025 Shim 10455048 Shim 10455048 Shim 10455053 No shim 10475298 No shim 10455053 No shim 10455060 No shim Table 3. For 2.5L L4 engines The third series we’ll look at is for the 2.5L L4 engine. This engine also uses a Delco SD210 series starter (WAIR #2-1520-DR). The D.E. housing is WAI #51-192 with a straight-across mounting bolt pattern (E mounting configuration) (Table 3, below). Note that this D.E. housing is not cataloged by WAI because it is made from a 51-1105 housing and a 62- 1404 bushing. In Table 3 you can see that Delco superseded the D.E. housing #10467760 (shim) to #10475286 (no shim) but did not supersede the starter. Table 3. 51-192 2-1520-DR (SD210 with E Mtg. Config.) Delco DEHsg Type Replaced by | Type Delco Starter # | Type Replaced by _—‘ Type 10467760 Shim 10475286 No shim | 10455026 No supersession 1st prod Shim 10475286 No shim 2nd prod No shim | Table 4. For 3.4L V6 engines Next we’ll consider GM’s 3.4L V6 engine (engine code X). This engine uses a Delco SD260 series starter (WAIR #2-1472-DR). The D.E. housing is WAI #51-1105, once again with a straight-across mounting bolt pattern (E mounting configuration) (Table 4, below). This time when Delco superseded D.E. housing #10475289 (shim) to #10475290 (no shim) they also superseded starter #10455047 (shim) to starter #10455051 (no shim). Later they superseded the starter again, this time to #10455061 (no shim). 51-1105 Table 4. 51-1105 2-1472-DR (SD260 with E Mtg. Config.) Delco DEHsg| Type Replaced by | Type Delco Starter # | Type Replaced by | Type 10471930 Shim 10475289 Shim 10455047 Shim 10455051 No shim 10475289 Shim 10475290 No shim 10475290 No shim 10455051 No shim | 10455061 No shim 10455061 No shim