Hi there. I have a 410 that i'm putting in a '64 F100. I got a bellhousing out of of '60's bus that has the proper "ears" to mount it to the rear crossmember. The 410, bellhousing and T-98 coupled together no problem. The problem is that the starter will not engage the flywheel. I think i should of used the flywheel out of the bus also. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Is there maybe a larger starter gear for the 410 starter drive? Thanks.

 

Measure the depth from the face of the bellhousing to the start of the teeth on the flywheel ring gear, and maybe we can get someone here to do the same to another FE.

If you got a bellhousing from an FT, I think it should be the same as the FE. Is there a chance you have the wrong starter?

 

Art, Is there more than one 3 bolt FE starter?

I didn't think that there was.




John

 

I know 460 marine starters bolt up. I used one once on my 390. With a coarse-tooth flywheel ring gear.

Not entirely sure it was the correct starter for a marine 460, but I do know wierd things happen.

ALSO - to the original poster, if it's a brand-new/rebuilt starter you picked up and never used it before on an FE, go back and make sure you got the right one. Match it up with another one and see if the snout is the same length.

 

Hello there. Yes I've tried two 3 hole 390 starters with Bendix drive
and the results were the same. I will definitely measure up the starter tonight when I get home. Were there different snout sizes for manual transmission starters? Hope I don't have to pull the engine and tranny to put in a larger flywheel.

 

You will have to use a 428 fly/flex wheel for your 410. It is differently balanced from the other FEs.

Check me on that guys.




John

 

I guess since you used 2 starters, this probably won't apply, but I had this happen on a new rebuilt starter....

The gear wouldn'tn fly out. There's a seperate coil for throwing out the drive gear and it wasn't grounded properly to the starter frame due to the frame being painted prior to starter assembly at the re-build factory.

It's possible that poor starter connections can do the same thing. Does the starter really wind out when you try it? It should, considering there's no load on it.

Maybe take the one that's out and put your foot on it and connect it to a battery with jumper cables to make sure it is working properly.

Alternatively, would an FT starter be longer and you are using an FT flywheel (or FT bellhousing) with a FE starter?

 

I'm not sure if the FT starter is different from the FE starter. Can someone clarify this for me? The 410 crank was balanced internally so I'm using a plain 390 MT flywheel. Both starters wound out no problem. I'll reinstall the starter and pull off the inspection cover tomorrow and have a look what it's doing.

 

I know this'll be one for the record books

 

Hello there. Been away for a while and just got back to working on the truck, with still the original problem. I took a few pics to show my dilemma. There seems to be a 1/8 inch gap between the starter gear and flywheel gear, they don't even contact each other. Need some options here. I just don't want to buy unnecessary parts to see if it will fix the problem. Thanks.


starter I'm using




starter opening








starter installed




1/8 inch gap between flywheel and starter gear




gap between starter and flywheel




mounting ear of the bellhousing

 

That doesn't look like mine. Mine has a bell on the end to support the shaft. Like this:

 

That last picture is a pretty normal FE starter - 4 inch frame Ford part, although FEs have the three bolt face.

That one you're using is one I'm not familiar with - an earlier style deal - maybe industrial or commercial application?

 

You have a big issue.

First, you used a "bus" bellhousing. Which means it's for an FT. Second, you used an FE flywheel.

Complete mismatch. If you look at the pics, the tooth pitch isn't even close to working neither.

You either need that "bus" flywheel, or you need a different bellhousing.

The bus (FT) flywheel, however, introduces some other problems.

Is that 410 externally balanced like a 428 (it should be)? The FT flywheel will NOT be the same balance weight as the 410/428 flywheel.

The solution here, because you used the bellhousing as a mounting point, is to either get a regular FE bellhousing and figure out how to mount the engine differently, get another FT bellhousing with the correct starter configuration, or use that "bus" flywheel (if you can even find it now) and balance it to the engine.

I THINK the "normal" FT starters are the same as the FE starters with a different tooth pitch. I THINK that "bus" bellhousing you have uses a different starter than the "normal" FT engines. They don't usually have a bearing on the end that sits in the bellhousing. I THINK that you could find a "normal" FT bellhousing that takes the FE-style starter, and still has the mounting ears on it, although they might be different.

Good luck with this, it's a doozy.

 

I think you have the wrong starter for the flywheel that you are using. From what I can see you need the late style starter. According to my interchange book from 65 on FT's and FE's take the same starter, there are differences in torque ratings. Do you have any idea what flywheel that you are using?? The old style starter gear will not mesh with the later flywheel , the old style engaged from the rear - new style from the front . By the looks of the pics you have the flywheel has been engaging from the front. If you can get me some numbers from your flywheel and bellhousing I'll see what I can find out as to what they were from origionly.

Have A Good Day------------ Hotwrench

 

Thanks for the replies. I got the flywheel off a buddy of mine. He says it was off a 390. I did count the teeth and it has 184. I agree with you Hotwrench that this flywheel had a starter that engaged from the front (should have picked up on that from the rounding of the flywheel teeth) but agree with Krewat's post that I should have used the flywheel from the "bus". What I'm going to try is buy a starter like in Argess's post and see what happens. If it doesn't work, I may try to build an adapter plate to mate the starter to the bellhousing for correct engagement of the starter. Do you guys know if there is a regular 4 speed bellhousing that will mate to my 410 and T-98 tranny? I see the NP435 bellhousing that mate to the 390 but they have a different transmission mounting holes. Below is the exact bellhousing that I have currently mounted to my 410.