Someone Please help

[justinsain1026]

I duno we spent all day from 9 am till 4 trying dirffernt starters, same thing, might crank one good time or so then @&*@#@*#*@# sounded like it was grinding the hell out of something, we finally grinded the starter down to make it fit in the flywheel better, so far its working, still doesnt sound like it should. Its a 70 or 72 smb400 with a 168 flywheel, the starter we used is in the jtr book number 3 on the list i belive.

[Mike]

maybe the starter isn\'t the problem, maybe your starter ring/flywheel is shot.



you ask what gives me this idea?, if you\'ve tried 4 starters and they all do this it\'s time to look elsewhere for the problem.

[justinsain1026]

i dunno the flywheel is brand new, no teeth missing although its not a chevy. What elese could it be?

[spacecadet]

Shims. Did you try to add shims between the stater and the block.

[justinsain1026]

yep we had a pile of them, only made it worse

[spacecadet]

I\'ve had to cut them in half and install them on the outside bolt. This will \'push\' the starter closer. I\'ve done that numerous times w/Napa starters. Sometimes it does work.

[justinsain1026]

we have got the starter closer and she will crank but it still doesnt sound like it should. we dont get the grinding noise but it just doesnt sound right.

[spacecadet]

I\'m wondering if the staters rebuilder, put in a metric drive instead of a standard (SAE) drive. They will both have the ssame number of teeth but, the overall diameter of the teeth is smaller. Which - changes the \'true\' thread pitch. The chances of multiple starters is slim but, I deal w/Napa and \'odds\' don\'t matter - % is there game 50% of the time you got it right the first time.Or should I say 50% of the time it s wrong.

[justinsain1026]

we have tired 2 of the same starters in the jtr book, number 3 on their list, we tired a 4.3 starter same thing. The first time we put it in she fired up perfect then id say after 12 or so cranks i could tell somthing wasnt right then it got to where it would start good cold and sounding like F**@# shit when I would try to crank it, next no matter what we tried it still sounded bad, made a noise that would make ur ears bleed almost. So now we have it rigged where it cranks but still I dont trust it ya know

[spacecadet]

I know you said the flex plate was new but, Did you recheck the condition of the flywheel? Its possible that the staters you had in ther e damaged the new ring gear. Look real close, square cut teeth. Otherwise for now I\'m out of ideas. I\'ll kick it around with a couple of buddy\'s tommorow. If they give me any good info I\'ll let you know tommorrow night.

[tracker]

the possibility of the flex plate being installed backwards is likely. that would put the teeth in the wrong location for the starter to engege. the mounting locations for the convertor that are bulged from the flat surface should be toward the tranny. check that. this is my best internet guess

[s10spd-racer]

If you say you have a new flex plate the one thing i would check would be is the torque converter all the way in. It should drop in a few times and should be in close to the pump. Check to see if you have the converter in all the way, because tightening that down without it being all the way in would cause your problem. If your having trouble getting it all the way in you might have a burr on it, if everything looks ok then put it on the input shaft and spin it back and forth while pushing in. I have had some stubburn ones that were a pain in the a.s to get in, but it should drop in. When its all the way in you shouldn\'t be able to fit your fingers in between the converter and the pump. Good luck hope that helps

[sorj]

don\'t forget, the flex plate and harmonic balancers are differant on a 400 verses all other small blocks. I have this engine in my 72 Impala. I had to special order the flexplate due to the external balaning.If you run the 350 harmonic and flexplate or miss match them, the engine will not be balanced correctly and may cause problems you don\'t want to happen (broken crank). There is a special starter if I remember correctly for the 400 so if I did not know about any of it, you could use the 72 Impala for a referance to getting the right parts. hope this helps, sorj

[mzoomora]

Its possible that your starter is for 163t and the flywheel is a 148t. I have seen some that say they will work for both, but they are different.

[Wendell]

i used a starter for a 95 chevy duelly with a 454. bolted it to my 400 with a couple of shims,no problems.