I'm in the middle of doing my cam swap and I'm following the ls1howto guide, and it says to drop the starter? Is this nessecary? I have a auto, and it just looks like a pain to drop and was wondering if some of you guys with more exp. have done this

 

the starter is easy as crap to take out. 2 bolts and just let it hang. unbolt the battery first

 

i did a heads/cam swap on an auto ls1 and i didn't take the starter out. are you trying to get the crank bolt off? just keep your water pump on and wrap your old belt around that and the pulley to hold it. or just use an impact wrench.