ford fe starter index question

[patrickt]

Alright Rick, don't have a cow.... He's got a rather mild FE; perfect for an OEM. But, let him grind away....

[wrench87]

ok here is what i found i did not reinstall everything but hoping what i found was the problem. on the quicktime blockplate they have 4 holes up top to go around the galley plugs well 3 the 4th hole does not go to anything , also the gallley plug right above the crank did not have a hole so between this and the rear cam plug was not fully seated on the left side it was holding the block plate away from the block, i drilled a hole for the bottom galley plug and seated the cam plug also the machinist installed silicone over the plug which made it worse, the plate no sits flush on its own. i hope this was it.

my engine is a 72 390 block .030 over 4.250 steel crank , eagle 6.7 rods diamond pistons slight dish 10.0 comp ratio a set of keith crafts stage i heads with a little more work done, edelbrock performer rpm port matched and flowed, comp cam hydraulic roller cam 598-617 lift 230-238 duration 112 lobe center, smith bro pushrods, crane t bar lifters, erson rockers ram aluminum flywheel ram big block chevy clutch my flywheel was drilled for it,
quick time 6056 bell housing, edelbrock water pump, msd 8594 dis i installed light silver and light blue spring with the silver bushing, i have not bought a carb yet going for a 750-850 mech secondary no choke or choke horn would like to run turkey pan but undecided. i have 8.8 irs 373 gears and a tremec 3550 trans with 26 spline input. i know tranny and gears are not ideal but that is what i was running with my 342 engine. steve

[FWB]

Wrench,

if you bought the 5049 CVR starter, that is the correct one for 184 tooth flywheel.

by the pick of the engagement.....it looks like the drive needs to engage more, as you are only 50% engaged.

so after your mod....with the plug or whatever you did....does it engage the flywheel more?

[RICK LAKE]

wrench87 You see the problem with the teeth issue and can fix this. My understanding is that the starter drive doesn't retract? If you push on the nose, does it? You have have the power to it setup wrong. There should be a short wire coming off the starter soleniod. This bolts to the main stud for the battery cable that comes from the starter soleniod on the fire wall. If you have battery power going to the soleniod the drive will stay out and not retract. If you have a test light just check with the battery hooked up to the starter for no power going to the soleniod. This should fix the starter issue. Rick L. PS Wrench87 unless you have the oil pump hooked up and distrubutor in this motor, OIL AND FILTER IN THE MOTOR, DON'T CRANK IT WITH THE STARTER. You will wipe off the prelube and cause a dry start condition. Doesn't matter weather the plugs are in or out of the heads. Please don't do this. Rick L.

[wrench87]

fwb, i have not reinstalled every thing yet to retry, rick the engine is not in the car i was running a mini starter with my small block i did have a solenoid on the fire wall if i remember i used it for a junction for the 12v cable and as a jumper for the ignition start wire?. the engine has been prelubed witha drill on several occasions, if you turn over your engine by hand to set the valves you will scrape off the lube. also the tech guy at cvr said they like to see 50 percent engagement with there starters?. once i put everything back on i will post.

[RICK LAKE]

wrench87 It's your car. 50% is not enough. If I had a camera that could down load a picture I would show you the 50% theory. When have you every seen 50% contact of anything and thought that it was ok?? CVR is in the bussiness to sell starters and parts. Over time the starter will start to wear out the 50% of the teeth and you will see a pattern on the flywheel teeth. Could you ask CVR tech guy this. Is this a direct bolt in for your car, not say motor. Here's the thing 90% of car that came with 4 speds or more, DON'T have block protectors. Only aftermarket bell housing like QT and Lake wood. Like I said if you cut out the block plate where the starter is you will see about a 90% contact of teeth to teeth. This is what you want. It is going to last longer and have a correct wear pattern?? 30+ years of mechanic has shoiwn me alot of poor installation problems that the companies say is normal. Good luck Rick L. Ps if you run MSD you might want to keep a bag in the trunk with basic tools, cap, rotor, coil, and module for break down on the side of the road too.

[wrench87]

rick , you are correct the guy i talked to is wrong they want .400 to .500 engagement the ring is gear is only .385 so you are right it should have full engagement. i really do not want to cut the block plate because the face of the bellhousing is not prefect. i am going to try the other route and macnine the indexing plate. i found out from another forum member that my crank hub is 1/8 longer then stock, my block plate is .120 so your idea would work but you would not have that precision hole to line up the starter and it would just sit on the bellhousing. i also found out my starter drive gear at rest is 7/16 and a factory starter is 3/4 so a factory starter would also work i would rather run a mini? i am torn because i dont know if you can buy a block plate for the quicktime, and i want to see if i could buy a new indexing plate from cvr.