I just bought an '80 F-100, with a 400ci big block [later 80s 3/4 ton I hear it's from]. The starter bolts came loose, thus chipping a tooth on the starter. It chewed up the flywheel a bit.. but all the teeth are there, and no tooth is under 90% there.. and there are only a few. Go to the jyard, pick up an '83 460 starter [dude said it was the same]. Put it in, it now turns the motor over but not well, and it grinds like there was a small child sitting in there. I'm afraid to hit it again, but one of the bolts is all ghetto rigged and threads, but not tight, the other one is fine.. the starter is tight, but it's possible it's pushing out, I've never looked. Is it possible to adjust the starter or did I get the wrong one?

 

First of all, welcome to FTE. This has to be the best help source around for the backyard Ford mechanic.

Do you know what engine was originally in your F-100? I know the 351M-400 series were in Broncos in '81, but I'm not sure what was offered in '80. I'm pretty sure by the later 80's that engine family wasn't offered in anything. The engine has to mate to the bellhousing. The starter bolts to the bellhousing and has to mesh fairly precisely with the engine flywheel or flexplate. I don't think there's a whole lot of interchangeability there, but I could be wrong. It's just that I've always sought out application specific starters.

The starter needs to be mounted flush and tight. It can't be moving or pushing out. These starters don't use shims. Do you have the right bolts for the starter? Is the thread problem with the bolt or the hole in the bellhousing?

 

You might have to get under there and file the teeth a little bit. If they have burrs on them, it may be diffcult for the starter to engage. Also when you take the starter back off, make sure the starter gear turns one way, but not the other. It has a one-way clutch inside the bendix, and if it goes bad, it will also make a grinding noise.

 

To be honest with you, I have no idea what the original motor was. However autozone's percentages list 99% 5L [assuming the 300?], and 01% 5.8L [also assuming 351?]. I'm not a ford guy, by any means. This is also the oldest vehicle I have ever owned... but not the worst by any means .

The bolt problem IMO is just a too small a bolt or metric in SAE hole. The bolt looks fine, but the hole is questionable. It does have the 3rd bolt hole for a 3 bolt starter. I am thinking about looking into one of those, that way I can just forget about the one crappy hole. However the upper bolt.. the one that is harder to get to is the right one and threads very nicely. That one is the one keeping it tight. That's assuming I find a starter that even works. I'm getting the truck towed [home] today, and will pull the new starter out and count the teeth and check the one way clutch as well. Hopefully there will be a difference between the right starter and and the wrong one.

Also, as far as application starters, I would love to get one. However I just dumped literally all my cash into buying this truck, now I am broke. So even if I could figure out what year my engine is, I still couldn't afford the 100+ bill for a new starter. We've got to think creative, and cheap .

 

Ford is rather complex as far as their engines choices and families are concerned. If it's a 351m/400, it will have 8 bolts holding the valve covers on. If it is a 302 or 351w, there will be 6 bolts holding the valve covers on.

 

There are different starters depending on the transmission you have. I can't remember which way it goes, but between an auto and a stick, one starter will need a longer nose cone to reach into the bellhousing. If you have a long nose starter and need a short one, that could be your problem too.

Oh and the 400 was available up until about 1983.

 

the fact that the bolts are "ghetto" could be the problem too

if the starter doesn't sit perfectly flush with the teeth on the flywheel then it could also produce that sound and cause your starter to poop on you. see if you can get it on there more flush and see what happens.

 

I did a search and it looks like 1982 was the last year for the 351m/400.

History of 351m/400.

I'd first get the starter you have clamped down properly. Get the right size bolts and fix the threads with a helicoil. See how it works then.

A weak started drive (Bendix) can also give a good chatter.

 

After a few trips to the jyard, and a few quality assurance tests, the starter is now working fine. I put in the proper bolts [turns out the ghetto bolt was just the wrong size], and it works fine. Not quite perfect though, it's very loud and a bit grindy, but it turns the truck over fine every time. I think I just need to play with it a bit, the jyard starters look like they were sitting for 10+ yrs. I do also have a few other problems, but I'll start a new thread. I do appreciate the help you guys have given me. Great resource these forums are.

 

Well folks, it's back again. Killed starter #3. Truck started maybe 15 times then both starters crapped out. I want to play with some voltage drop stuff, just to make sure it's not the wiring. But it seems to just slip. Like I got the truck to start one one last time, and the starter sounded like it was working hard and spinning decently, but I could see the fan only spinning moderately. The flywheel hasn't gotten worse, and it's tight up in there every time. I'm tempted to just rebuild the starters that I have, because I have three starters now, and the original one is the best, it just has a stripped tooth and the mounting bracket hole is too big, so i'd need to swap it to another body with another pinion gear. Does anyone have any experience rebuilding these starters or has some good resources to point me in the right direction? I've rebuilt a 3800 starter in the past, but that's GM, and it was super easy. This guy looks intimidating to be honest. I'm searching the net as I type; so far not so good.

 

If you are using the correct starters(the old Ford style), they are simpler than the GM's. They have no solenoid on them at all.

 

Before I read your post, and after searching the net for something useful, I just dove in. You are right, that is even easier than a GM starter. My task today is to make one good starter out of 3 bad ones.

I did try to bench test the starter, hooking the ground up to the snout and power up to the one wire's connector, but it turned over very slow, solenoid didn't engage, and it seemed to be shorting out the battery. Does it not want the ground connected?

 

if it came out of a auto and goin in a standard it will grind the flywheel.

 

I think a new one(reman'd) with a lifetime warranty is about $40....With today's fuel prices and the cost of driving back and forth to the yard I would say that is justifiable...... EH?

 

Yep, I think you are right, and it's 30. Although I can walk to my yard.. lol.

I did do this. I took all three starters, took them all apart, using the armature, base, brushes, and solenoid from my first starter that was still decent. I used the drive, snout, and brushes holder thing [not sure how that broke?] off the two jyard starters. Putting them all together, cleaning the crap out of everything, lightly sanding the comm and brushes, cleaning with acetone, lubing every freaking moving part with white lithium, put it all back together. Put it in the truck, starts the thing 3 times, bam same freaking thing, dead. It'll grind real bad, then it'll start one last time and conk out for good. Then it'll barely turn over, like ru-ruh pause, ru ruh pause ru ruh and it'll either click and start the truck maybe 1 out of 20 times, or like the other 19 do nothing. I can get a new drive for 20, whole reman starter for 30. I know the best choice would be the reman, but that drive is still cheaper... does what I am experiencing sound like the drive failing?