Hi,
I'm at my wits end, i have a mint 74 bronco, I had a ford mechanic build a 351 w
engine 300hp it's sweet, the only problem is I can't drive it because it eats
starters. I put a new starter in it last for 10 starts and eats the starters
teeth. it won't engage far enough into the fly wheel to turn it correctly. All
part books show the same starter for a 164 tooth 289-351w standard 2 bolt. No
shimming for ford small blocks
(i did try shimming it just moves the starter farther out!!). only about 1/4
inch is catching the fly wheel. Now when the mechanic built it the original
flywheel wouldn't bolt up to the 351w block the bolt patterns didn't match it
took him 5 different flywheels to find the correct one. The flywheel in the
bronco does have 164 teeth i took the starter out and counted them by turning
the crank. the bronco has the large bell housing that bolts to a c-4 with a
metal very thin spacing plate for the starter. The guy who built it says he did
his part the problem is mine.
I'm just sick over it, now I did notice that ford has a different starter for a
two bolt for a manual tranny. could it be possible the flywheel is for a manual
tranny and sits back farther? I have to get this problem taken care of before i
ruin the fly wheel too I have 15k invested in a bronco I can't drive. help
please</pre>

 

I know that the nose cone length is different between the manual and auto starters, but I couldn't find my measurements.

What part # and brand are you using for replacement starter? Are they for an automatic application?

Something tells me that you have the wrong automatic flywheel. The original Bronco 302 version should have worked. The balance and the bolt pattern are the same. They are directional and positional, meaning that the bolt holes will only line up one way.

BTW, Ford starter shims are available. They were introduced to help compensate for engine machining and regular wear between engines and 30 year old starter housings.

HTH, Let me know if this fixes the problem or if you need any other help with it.

Jason

 

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I wish I could help, but I didn't even know there was a difference in starters between and stick and an auto. But I do know, we need pictures of your bronco! 15k, I am sure it looks great!!

J.D.

 

I tried the shimming it didn't work, it just made that much less of the starter teeth engage the flywheel. what I need is a starter that puts out another 1/2 depth in the bell housing.

you can view my bronco in the gallery here just filter to 1974 year, make bronco under baby blue heading

 

From what I know about starters or have seen the long nose has 3 bolts seen these on older fe trucks with man. trans.
Most other starters have two bolt short nose.
sounds like bellhousing on the truck is long not letting the starter fully engage.
Whats the flywheel "flexplate" starting to look like is it getting chewed up ?
This is what i would buy.
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-...ni_starter.htm
Tell them what you got they will fix you up.

 

There are two different length nose cones for two bolt starters. I want to say they are about 1/2 inch different. Found out when scrounging out back for a weekend fix on my dads truck. Can't remember which way it is though.

 

could be wrong offset on flexplate\flywheel....

 

I could be wrong but isn't there a difference in balance weight between the 302 and 351 flexplate/flywheel. Which would mean possible different starter setup. Need to know which flexplate mech installed. Otherwise it's kind of trial and error.

 

Early (before 85) 302's and all 351W's have the same imbalance.

Jason

 

thanks guys, the offset in the flywheel was off by 1/16 I solved the problem by getting a flywheel for a 1983 f250 351w, I dropped the tranny and it bolted right up it works perfectly. right on the nose big crunch 2