I swapped out the "Baby bellhousing" on my C4 with the "Small" one, and the coresponding 157 flexplate.
Now the starter won't engage, it just grinds against the flexplate
I have tried shims, with no success
the starter worked fine with the old belhousing and 141 flexplate
any suggestions?
Either that or you need the 164 tooth flexplate. Visually it is hard to spot the difference between a bellhousing that requires either a 157 or 164 tooth flexplate until you go to bolt it up. Generally most post -'74 rigs and all trucks used the 164 tooth and the 60's and early 70's 'car' used the 157 tooth. Mustang II obviously and exception. Now, I'm saying "generally" here.
I agree with Dano. Ford starters for the most part are the same . ( for the most part) The starter will only bolt up to the bell in one position. So, if your starter is not engaging the flexplate, the only logical solution is a 164 tooth flexplate. We are only talking 7 teeth. I do not know the DIA. difference. LMK how you make out.
Are you using the correct adaptor plate between the engine and trans?
This plate gives the correct starter position for each particular setup.
The starter bolt holes should line up with this plate and the bell.
Didn't different bendix used in different applications have different tooth counts?
If it's the wrong engine to bell spacer plate that piece of sheet metal (spacer) won't match the bell footprint but more importantly, since the plate is doweled to the engine and trans the starter will not seat and the starter bolts will not screw into the bell because the holes won't be aligned.
I agree with what's been said reguarding the spacer plate. They are hard to mix up and pretty obvious when you go to stab a starter. Sounds like it is bolting up. If you have to force the starter -at all- to fit, something is wrong.
Don't quote me on this Mark, but I believe just about all of Fords starters used the same teeth count, at least through the 60s and 70s. Was 10 teeth, wasn't it?? I do recall changing out the cone portion of the starter with that of an FE starter (3-bolt) and it worked fine. this may not be true for all though.
However, I have seen SEVERAL different depths of starter drives. The depth seems to stem with the aluminum cone that houses the gear end of the drive. I usually buy re-man starters that typically end up with old reconditioned factory starter cones. These seem to work better than the aftermarket replacements you will find on 'new' (not rebuilt) starters.
D2AE, D2AF, D0OE are a few examples of part numbers found on the aluminum cones that should work fine, for either 141, 157, and 164 tooth flexplates.
thanks for all the advice
I have found a few other starters that I am going to try
one from a 68 and another from a 73
I'll let you know how it works out
Don't quote me on this Mark, but I believe just about all of Fords starters used the same teeth count, at least through the 60s and 70s. Was 10 teeth, wasn't it??
I just counted the teeth on two starters, one from a '88 AOD and the other from a 69 Bronco with 11" clutch / '67 Mustang with a 10". Both had 9 teeth.
I should measure how far they move/ how far they poke out. Maybe later.
In a 'recent' (?) thread someone posted they thought there were different sized bendix, I seem to remember seeing one that looked to be a smaller tooth count, but thats the cob webs of memory and I havent seen a known II starter in going on 30 years.
Knowing the II to be it's own creature a proprietary bendix wouldn't be beyond imagination, just unlikely.
These kinds of headaches are why I started replacing/ modifying in assemblies and sections. IE: Flywheel, starter, spacer, and clutch and fork as a unit.