mrgem
Member
I'm building a 331 stroker -- based on a 66 289 block -- for a project car. The original gearbox ( toploader), bellhouse and flywheel were gone when I bought the car. I found replacements that seemed to work and thought we'd had the problem licked. However...We recently went to install a new starter and the heartburn began.
Seems that Ford, in their infinite wisdom, decided sometime during the 1964 model year to quit using 164-tooth flywheels on small block manual trans cars and replaced it with a thicker, 157-tooth flywheel. The problem came to light when trying to install what O'reilly's listed as a 1965 small block manual trans starter. The starter would not fit into the hole on the sheetmetal blocking plate. The hole was just a tiny bit (less than 1/16") too small. To complicate things even more, there were two starters used for 65 -- A "short nose" and a "long nose" design that not only was dependent on the flywheel (or flex plate) spec and/or the transmission type.
The engine and trans are already installed in the car and I didn't want to pull the engine again or drop the trans. So right now our plan is to to use a dremel tool and open up the starter hole iin the blocking plate - being careful to try and pick up any filings that accumulate in the bellhouse. Does that sound reasonable?
I've attached a bit of info provided by Bob Mannel that covers the differences between starters.
Seems that Ford, in their infinite wisdom, decided sometime during the 1964 model year to quit using 164-tooth flywheels on small block manual trans cars and replaced it with a thicker, 157-tooth flywheel. The problem came to light when trying to install what O'reilly's listed as a 1965 small block manual trans starter. The starter would not fit into the hole on the sheetmetal blocking plate. The hole was just a tiny bit (less than 1/16") too small. To complicate things even more, there were two starters used for 65 -- A "short nose" and a "long nose" design that not only was dependent on the flywheel (or flex plate) spec and/or the transmission type.
The engine and trans are already installed in the car and I didn't want to pull the engine again or drop the trans. So right now our plan is to to use a dremel tool and open up the starter hole iin the blocking plate - being careful to try and pick up any filings that accumulate in the bellhouse. Does that sound reasonable?
I've attached a bit of info provided by Bob Mannel that covers the differences between starters.
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