Hello, You guys have always pulled through in my time of need so here goes. I had an issue with my 68 coupe 289 manual 3 spd trans car. The starter was not engaging in the flywheel all the time. I took it apart and had the ring gear replaced and now the starter will not go into the hole. New block plate, matches up to the old one perfectly, new ring gear, I looked into the hole and it seems as if the ring gear may be installed on the flywheel on the wrong side. It looks as if it was put on from the disc side instead of the crank side. Is this possible to do even? The shop that did it says it is not possible but when I align the flywheel and starter up and measure everything up with a dial caliper the flywheel is about even with the tip of the nose cone on the starter, so you cant even get the starter to go in the hole and actually bolt on the bellhousing because the starter tip and the flywheel teeth are rubbing and this wont allow the starter to drop into the opening. I attached a picture. If anyone has a flywheel lying around to check against my picture please do. I appreciate all of your help. Please email pics if needed to [email protected] ,Thanks, - Ken
Please help!!! Starter/ flywheel question
- Thread starter wigracer
- Start date
WORTH
20+ Year Stangneter 
They make 2 different ring gears for small blocks, but I didn't think you could put the wrong gear on. Does anyone know if the flywheel is the same for both the ring gears? Can you get the old gear back from them to match up?
come on guys someone has to have a flywheel in there garage right now they could go and look at for me. I cant drive my car till I get this sorted out and you know how frustrating that can get. Just look and see if the ring gear is closer to the top side where the p plate is or closer to the flywheel side Thanks again!
WORTH
20+ Year Stangneter
I don't have one to check, but I don't think it's possible to put it on the wrong side, but it may be the wrong gear.
dennis112
15 Year Member
WORTH said:
Could you be talking about the 164 and the 157 tooth ring gears? If so, I doubt if they can be mixed because the 164 fits a larger diameter flywheel.
Here is a little info that might help figure stuff out.
I don't have flywheel handy, but I would believe there would be a raised boss that the ring gear would be seated against.
Manual ring gears are reverseable, that is once one side gets torn up, you can have it reversed to use the other side--I've had it done before on a stock ford flywheel.
I would first backtrack what you did? What kind of problems did you start
with? If it worked fine before you started you probably have a bad starter
thats not engaging properly. There is 164 tooth flywheel and 157tooth
flywheel. If you have a 164 tooth belhousing and 157 tooth flywheel the
starter wont even come close to engaging. I beleive the ring gear are
the same. Like guy said you can flip them around if you wore the teeth off
on one side. I would also compare the old ring gear with the new that
you installed to make sure there the same.
with? If it worked fine before you started you probably have a bad starter
thats not engaging properly. There is 164 tooth flywheel and 157tooth
flywheel. If you have a 164 tooth belhousing and 157 tooth flywheel the
starter wont even come close to engaging. I beleive the ring gear are
the same. Like guy said you can flip them around if you wore the teeth off
on one side. I would also compare the old ring gear with the new that
you installed to make sure there the same.
Dudes, it has a manual trans, flexplate cannot go in backwards as pressure plate has to bolt on and there is a recessed area where flywheel bolts to crank. Other side is not smooth or surfaced. So flywheel is on correct. Initial problem was starter gear noise. Block plate was bent, starter was not sitting in hole right. Somonehas to have a flywheel they can look at and tell me if the gear is in the right spot or not. I will keep you guys posted as I am tearing it out tommorow again. Thanks Ken
Ok, sorry I misread. Any how, the ring gear only goes on the flywheel in one spot. But it can go either side, like I said before, people used to flip the gear when one side got eaten up by the starter. So, you've got the wrong flywheel for the bell or vise-versa. Two sizes for this-- 157 or 164 tooth. Bell has to match the flywheel size. Block plate has to match the bell. Or possibly you've got the wrong starter.
I've got a flywheel sitting in my garage. I'll look at it this afternoon....send me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you the picture of my flywheel. The engine is a 289 so I'm not sure if the flywheels are the same, but mine IS correctly installed and ought to give you a good idea how the ring gear/flywheel should be installed.
[email protected]
[email protected]
allrighty then, Thanks phutch11 for the pics thats what mine looks like. So I tore it apart and found out that the block plate hole is too small. ring gear and all is fine after matching to your pictures. I bought this block plate from macs antique auto parts and it is junk so I guess I will be calling them up. Thanks for all your help guys. Sorry spirockp cant help with the automatic but be sure your block plate is flat and not bent at all so the starter teeth can mesh properly. Also make sure all teeth on flywheel are in good shape. If there are any that are gouged that can cause noise when starting engine. Thaks again everyone. Wigracer
302 coupe
Founding Member
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