Ok fellas, this is a real doozy, hopefully you guys can help me.

Due to the year of the truck, I'll also post a separate thread in the earlier model forum. Let me know which one is appropriate and I'll delete the other.

I have a '63 F100 that at some point in its past had an engine/trans swap to a later model that I believe is a 1972 302 (block casting D20E-6015-AB, 2J5) with what I think is a '68 C4 trans (tagged PEE CS4 C28B D8BP DE, servo says A C6AP-7D027-C). I recently had the C4 rebuilt and due to the hacks that had the truck before me, had to replace the mismatched grinded up bellhousing and separator plate. The separator plate I got from CJPonyParts is the one for the C4 with the 157 tooth flexplate (I counted), and assuming they shipped me the part I ordered, it didn't fit exactly right and I had to wallow out the inside of a few bolt holes and the dowel holes (I know, that was my first mistake) to get it to fit. Trans guys replaced the bellhousing. Now that it's all back together (bellhousing bolted to engine block perfectly) I went to bolt the starter back up and the bolt holes didn't line up. I figured I had the wrong starter, since so many other things have been wrong on this truck, so I went and got the correct starter for the engine/trans combo. I bought the starter for a 1972 F100 with the 302, the '68 was the same part number. It still doesn't line up. My next step, rather than taking it all apart again, was going to be grinding out the inner surface of the separator plate starter opening, to get the starter closer to the flexplate and hopefully lined up with the bolt holes. My questions are:

1) Am I correct in my identification of the engine and transmission?
2) How do I determine if the flexplate is correct for the engine/trans? (157 tooth vs 164 tooth, balanced vs imbalanced)
3) Although it's obviously not ideal, am I digging myself a deeper hole by grinding out the separator plate starter hole? I assume the starter mount bolt holes will be sufficient to hold things in their proper alignment.

Thanks in advance for all replies.

 

When I had my marine repair shop I found that the marine/ industrial separator-dust plate has a smaller hole about 1/8” than the auto version. The auto starters will bend the plate and causes the starter to not engage and eat up the gears. I used to remove the drive end of the starter and turn them down on my lathe. Also automatic transmission and manual transmission plates locate the starter in different locations.

 

:I deleted the OP's long winded 'novelette' because he installed the wrong flexplate and has also installed other possible wrong parts. See the OP's thread in the 1961/66 forum.

People need to pay attention to Ford ID tag number prefixes .. because if they begin with D8 .. they ain't from a 68!