Thread:

Starter Problems need help

With the battery disconnected, manually pull the starter teeth out until it meshes with the flywheel. Of course, you may need to slightly rotate the starter teeth until they are fully engaged. You should be able to slide a 1/8" rod/drill bit/etc. between the top of the starter teeth and the bottom of the flywheel teeth when it's perfectly aligned. To achieve that proper space, you'll often need to add shims. We've taken some starters off a BBC that used no shims and placed another on that needed three or even four at times to properly mesh. I suspect it's imperfection in the machining processes of these manufacturers. I sincerely believe some are machined to expect the use of multiple shims.

Looks to me like you've pretty much worn the ring gear out. It's hard to tell from the pics, but from what I can see on the teeth, it doesn't look like you've got full engagement when the starter does hook up. Now that you've worn down the teeth on the ring gear, it's made it ten times worse. Looks like you've got a lot of corrosion on the ring gear as well which doesn't make for smooth opertion. Just some things to consider.

I put 2 shims in which fixed the problem. Its cranking over every time now... Hopefully that ring gear will do for a season or so? Alluminum next fly wheel...

Originally Posted by HL9000

I put 2 shims in which fixed the problem. Its cranking over every time now... Hopefully that ring gear will do for a season or so? Alluminum next fly wheel...

Good deal. Put some grease on the ring gear and it'll help. Just a little will go a long way.

Originally Posted by The Doctor

With the battery disconnected, manually pull the starter teeth out until it meshes with the flywheel. Of course, you may need to slightly rotate the starter teeth until they are fully engaged. You should be able to slide a 1/8" rod/drill bit/etc. between the top of the starter teeth and the bottom of the flywheel teeth when it's perfectly aligned. To achieve that proper space, you'll often need to add shims. We've taken some starters off a BBC that used no shims and placed another on that needed three or even four at times to properly mesh. I suspect it's imperfection in the machining processes of these manufacturers. I sincerely believe some are machined to expect the use of multiple shims.

I'm having similar problems. Shimming only hurts my problem. I can't seem to get a good mesh and the ring gear is getting eaten up. A stock starter used to have no problems but mini starters(2 in a row)don't seem to get a close enough fit.I'm going to try surfacing some material off the starter and if I go too far I can use shims to get it back. I never thought of the grease, which I will try and I got a backup flexplate to replace this backup flexplate in case I get a good fit.

The only time I have had a problem a starter is when the real problem was the flex plate. Make sure you are using a good aftermarket flex plate and the teeth are all in good shape not a stock P.O.S. they are to thin and flex a lot.

Originally Posted by HL9000

Ok, I will. Thanks for the info. Do you have any specific grease you would recommend. Also do you think i should spray the flywheel with something like WD40 to cut down on that rusting from condensation.

Good ol' wheel bearing grease will work. Just a film thickness applied with a small brush will do, so you're not throwing it all over your bilge. WD40 will evapporate in a few days,. Better to use something like LPS2 or 3. Better yet would be to remove the flywheel (don't know what trouble that would be) and have it cleaned and painted or powder coated.