Hello gang,

I've got a '78 F-250 supercab that I just swapped a 351m for a 390 Pep Boys Remanufactured engine (remanufactured #204214). I had a guy I just met do the swap and for the money, I've had a lot of problems... now this!

I got stranded 30 miles from home yesterday because my starter seemed funky... she was turning, just not turning the flywheel. I figured (hoped) the teeth on the starter were shot, but after a flatbed ride home and removing the starter (YAY... it cleared the headers!!! ) I realized that the starter was just meeting with the flywheel for the past month!

The starters teeth max out at around 5/8" depth into the hole... But the flywheel is between 5/8" and 1" into the bell housing.... alas, the corners of the teeth on the flywheel are gone and "she no start"!!! They were barely touching all along.

Now, It's a new bell housing (from the 351m's) to accomodate the 390... all nice and good because he had one... but did Ford make them different sizes.. as in a wrong year bell housing will still bolt up to my engine, but the mounting spot for the starter might vary a 1/2" from year to year so that a standard three bolt ford starter won't fit?

This is really perplexing me because I don't know a whole lot... I know the basics of how an engine works, but when you get down to the knitty-gritty, I'm just an avid spectator. I payed $3300 for the engine, the swap, a new clutch, radiator, and one body patch... And I had to do a bunch of stuff after I got it.... I mean the guy had the spark plug wires zip-tied to the fuel line... even I know that's bad!

So did this guy just use the wrong year bell housing?... I need to be sure before I confront him because I don't want him to try and pull one over on me... He's a fast talker and I want to know what I'm talkin' bout.. if you know what I mean.

Thanks for any info... and thanks for reading this.. I just looked up a realized I wrote a book.

Regards,
Aaron

 

Aaron, I had this same problem with a '79 Cougar. The fix for this problem was a new flywheel. Seems the previous owner replaced the engine (ex-wifes uncle) and noticed that the old flywheel was shot. So he replacd it with one that bolted on but did not have the correct offset. After paying $100 dollars for a transmission guy (that owed me a favor) to replace the flywheel, she started fine. Only thing though was, as I remember, about 3 miles from his shop the tranny started slipping. I checked the fluid, or I should say foam. The idiot overfilled it. After a roadside "blood letting" of the excess fluid, she never shifted quite right. The moral of this story? I know how it feels to get screwed on a "good deal". Don't let it get to ya', just find the problem and fix it.

John

 

I guess all I can do is take her apart and have a look-see. I even spoke to a few Ford Certified mechanics yesteday and nobody had even encountered this problem... which seems strange to me.

I'm so tired of the old saying, "If you want something done right, do it yourself" always applying to my life... arghhh. Well, thanks for the moral support and the idea John

Anyway, this will be my first time removing the bell housing... any little tips or tricks or reminders would be greatly appreciated. It's a 78 F250 Supercab with a 390.

Thanks,
Aaron