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SBF starter installation question

Horseplay

Horseplay

I Don't Care. Do you?
Donator
So I went to install the starter this weekend and wasn't satisfied with the set-up. Bought a mini starter from here;

http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-9936-...arter-302-351-higher-torque-3205-sfd0001.aspx

Stock 302 block, 1990 T5 and bellhousing. Block plate installed. 157 tooth flywheel.

Issue I have is nothing positively locates the starter. I'll admit is has been a LONG time since I installed one on a SBF but shouldn't the machined lip of the starter locate into an appropriately sized hole in the blockplate? There is also a machined tip to the starter snout but I don't recall ever having a bellhousing with a recess to match.

What gives? How to do make sure i have good alignment with the ring gear on the flywheel? The mounting bolt holes in the starter casting have too much play for that to be the method. Do I tighten one bolt and kind of "clock" the starter to find the right spot? Seems that would take an inordinate amount of measuring and/or potentially damaging trial and error. I can remember sliding under any number of old rides and just doing a quick removal and replacement of such in the past with no more care than taking one off and slapping the other in.

What gives?
 
IIRC you shouldn't have any "play" in the mounting bolts holes of the starter.

The bellhousing determines the number of teeth the flexwheel/flywheel has.

Then its only the depht which determines what kind of starter you need.

IIRC , for a T5 you can use a starter for automatic transmission also.

Again , I am not sure because its awhile I did the search.
 
Thanks Bruno.

I know all my various parts are compatible, i.e. correct tooth count, etc. I just thought that the block plate starter hole would be a tolerance fit to the lip on the starter. I can take some measurements and try and position the starter center of the larger hole. I'm going to pull out the calipers later today and see what size the bolt holes are on the starter flange and see if i can find a sleeve which i can press in to snug the fit around the bolts. I'm thinking there might be as much as .095" play which would do nothing but bad things if misaligned!

Hopefully someone else here can shed some light on what I'm seeing.
 
Strange....my powermaster mini fits the metal plate exactly and bolts right up without any play. Of course, I check the fit BEFORE installing the engine. I bolt it up and energize the starter to check engagement fit.
 
msell66 said:
Strange....my powermaster mini fits the metal plate exactly and bolts right up without any play. Of course, I check the fit BEFORE installing the engine. I bolt it up and energize the starter to check engagement fit.
Click to expand...
Since you have nothing better to do, next time you are at the shop would you mind unbolting the starter and measuring the diameter of the plate hole? I'm thinking that since this starter fits SO MANY Ford applications it is not specific to any one blockplate. They are saying it's a fit because of the distance of the gear mesh, etc.
 
I think you still have an incorrect block plate.
The starter should be aligned by the big center hole and not with the bolts.
Just like rims , they must be centered by its center and not with the bolts.
Sorry , bad explanation.
 
I have this setup in my basement.
I will get some measurement about the hole !!!!
 

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Horseplay said:
Since you have nothing better to do, next time you are at the shop would you mind unbolting the starter and measuring the diameter of the plate hole? I'm thinking that since this starter fits SO MANY Ford applications it is not specific to any one blockplate. They are saying it's a fit because of the distance of the gear mesh, etc.
Click to expand...

That's funny that you think the block plate is installed already on my engine! I will look at it when Steve and I go over there today.

If I remember. It's not like you're important enough TO remember.
 
I've got the same starter and the same block plate and bellhousing. Mine seems to locate properly and actually kinda sucks in when I find the sweet spot. Mind you this was just mocking it up, so I don't know about starter to flywheel engagement.
 
Fst Blk said:
I've got the same starter and the same block plate and bellhousing. Mine seems to locate properly and actually kinda sucks in when I find the sweet spot. Mind you this was just mocking it up, so I don't know about starter to flywheel engagement.
Click to expand...
That sucking in is it nesting into the blockplate, I would say.
 
B67FSTB said:
I think you still have an incorrect block plate.
The starter should be aligned by the big center hole and not with the bolts.
Just like rims , they must be centered by its center and not with the bolts.
Sorry , bad explanation.
Click to expand...
Never mind. I'm apparently an idiot. Shut up {.}.

Thanks to Bruno for the measurement. I went out at lunch and measured everything. My plate hole is 4" diameter...which almost every (if not all) SBF should be. I wasn't at all worried about fitment when acquiring stuff because unlike Chevy, Ford starter stuff is damn near idiot proof. Well, almost. I figured this starter must have been the issue. Maybe mislabled or such.

I have been fighting a bad case of bronchitis for almost two weeks now so maybe I'm not thinking straight after banging my head on the bottom of the car every time I start coughing up a lung under there. I must not have had everything cinched up tight enough to force the starter into the plate properly and that is where I must have thought I had the play. It's all good now. Hole and starter flange are both 4".

I will climb back under there tonight and have another go at it. Thanks for the help!
 
I'm amazed the Koul tool arrived in Iowa let alone my house.


Sent from my iPhone using Smackatalk
 
Back in 1998, I had a problem with my starter and it had to be replaced. I got a Motorcraft one, and I simply could not get it installed: it would not fit the hole. They laughed at me when I brought it back but they had already turned in my old one as a core. I went to a starter specialty store down the street from the Motorcraft place, and they said the part number was incorrect: the manual starter was really for the automagic and vice-versa. They gave me one of each and told me to return the one that didn't fit. Sure enough, the automagic version fit my manual tranny. Later, much later, the difference is due to the 160 and 157 tooth flywheels. There's a good explanation here:

http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=12701.msg77122#msg77122
 
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