StarRrRrRrRting problems.

[72bumbee]

I spun it around, and it doesn't appear to be. I am going to sit here until I can figure it out.... strange

[72bumbee]

Any more thoughts from anyone else?

[Thunderfoot]

Now we're getting somewhere.

Check to see if you have too much end play in your crankshaft. The thrust bearing may be worn enough to let it shift forward when you accelerate hard.

Check the end play of the crank (forwards/backwards) you can do this from the front of the motor at the balancer by prying it back and forth, it should only have .004-.010 thousands end play...

[72bumbee]

I couldn't get it to move at all. I didn't want to break anything, but I pried against the water pump and the crank. How obvious would it be at those tolerances?
Thanks,
Steve

[fordman]

it doesnt look like it has very much end play if that is the problem. i think the end play could only be corrected by replacing the thrust bearing on the crankshaft. if that is the prolem. that is all i can think it could be. so the washer under the starter is what they did to fix it if that is the problem. wait to hear from soemone else before you go with what i say. becasue there may be something i am not thinking of.

[72bumbee]

It takes 2 people to juggle the starter and the exhaust together, and the wife aint home yet... so I am waiting and resting up...

[ToughOldFord]

Hopefully more will chime in here to say yea or nae, but doesn't that flywheel look really close to the spacer plate? Especially if you blow up that last pic. Could be the angle of the camera I suppose, but it looks awful close to me.

I have a 360 in the garage with a flywheel and spacer still on it, I'll go see if I can shoot some pics.

[ToughOldFord]

Okay, here's a pic, but it could still be a camera angle trick so I measured the backside of the flywheel ring to the inside of the spacer plate and came up with 9/16.

(It was fun moving that junk around. )

[72bumbee]

I measured from the flat part under the flywheel teeth to the backing plate and came up with 9/16. or it looked to me like a smidge over half inch. Eyes aren't so good anymore. But I am sure it was pretty much there. Now my only question is if we were both measuring form the same place? so I marked where I measured.

FlyWheel.jpg

[ToughOldFord]

Yep, that's where I got it. Sounds like you're good there. Man, this is the darnedest problem...

[ToughOldFord]

If you have access to a caliper or a micrometer I measured the thickness of the spacer plate @ .075

[70_F100]

Something is definitely amiss here.

In the pictures, you can see that the starter has been hitting the inside of the bellhousing , indicating that the nose cone on the starter may be too long. The wrong spacer plate would produce the same results, but I don't think they made more than one spacer plate (I could be wrong) . I measured one off a '67 352 with an FMX, and got the same measurement as ToughOldFord.

I believe the most likely culprit at this point is still the starter.

If it weren't for the imprint in the bellhousing, I would also suspect crankshaft endplay. From your description of how you checked it, it sounds like you only pried the crankshaft in one direction. Now, you have to remove the inspection cover from the transmission and pry it backwards to tell how much endplay you have.

One other possibility is that the transmission is not properly aligned with the engine. One or both of the alignment dowels could be missing. You could have a cracked bellhousing. There may be debris between the mating surfaces. Still, though, that wouldn't explain the starter hitting the bellhousing, since it actually bolts to the bellhousing and not the engine.

As much as I hate to recommend it, you may have to get Motormite "HELP!" part number 02361, which is a starter shim that is 3/32" thick. There's some reason they make them, though I've never had to use them on a Ford. https://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-bin/ ... _list=:0:0

[ToughOldFord]

You're right, that second picture clearly shows the starter nose has been hitting the bell. I think we're on to something here, I just mated a starter to a C6 in my garage and even without the engine spacer the nose is nowhere close to the bell!! So the problem pretty much as to be the incorrect starter or the transmission is sporing one hell of a casting error. I took some measurements of this starter too and I'll post them in a minute:

[ToughOldFord]

Okay, the first measurement, the important one, is the one in red. It's taken from the front base, (not the lip, inside the lip where it's flat), to the end of the cone. Just for giggles I also took the measurement from the end of the teeth on the Bendix to the end of the cone. If you're measurements do not match then there's the problem. If they do then you're going to have to end up using the spacers 70_F100 found.

[72bumbee]

ya, the measurements on the starters and the stock spacer are all the same, so in interest of time I put the washers back in and am running it. I will order that spacer thingy and do it next month, but that is interesting, seeing where that nose cone hits the bell. Almost seems it narrows down to the crankshaft huh?
Guess that is basically an engine rebuild.... AAACK!
Thanks again for ALL your help, and I will keep ya posted!
Steve