Replacing starter

[Rod Dean]

I am replacing starter in my 1979 Cadillac DeVille 7.0 and have never had to deal with shims before so am not sure how to align it in reinstall. Also, When I took starter out I disconnected all wires like normal and when I removed starter, here pops down an approx. 1 inch by nearly a foot long flat ground cable. Never have seen one of these either with a starter. Have researched extensively and nowhere do I find any reference to this ground cable. I am stuck. Thank you very much for any insight iinto these two things.

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

In most cases you would reinstall the shims as they were originally providing the replacement starter is the same as the orignal.
Some aftermarket units can vary in actual size matching.
Best to closly check them side by side.
As to the ground cable, it may have beed added some time in the past as a replacement.

[Rod Dean]

Sorry but a replacement ground cable for what? Didn’t even know it had a shim until it fell out from who knows where.

[Richard Kirshy]

Not saying it was a factory ground.
Someone prior may have installed it as a replacement block ground or perhaps they felt the starter needed extra grounding for some reason.
As far as the starter motor shim …
This will give you the basics.

[Author]

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