Help - going on my 3rd Flywheel :(

[SSSammy]

Originally Posted by Kramer

Sam - do you have a engine plate with the LW bellhousing as well?

Yes, although I have not trimmed out the portion that the starter sits on. That would put your pinion about .100" further in. If it is off by that much, then you could do that. Tilton recommended I have the starter face plate turned down by .060", so I had that done. But you should measure first.

Check the distance from the mounting surface of the block plate that the starter sits on to the near edge of the flywheel gear. You can do this with a 6" scale. I would bolt the BH on to get an accurate measurement. Compare that to the distance from the corresponding surface on the starter face to the outer edge of the pinion when it is pulled all the way out. The difference would be equal to the tooth engagement distance.

One concern I have is whether you have the correct starter pinion gear for your 184 tooth FW. If this is not an FE starter, it may have a different tooth pitch, and that would also bust teeth like you have been doing.

Sam

[Kramer]

Quick Question:do lakewood bellhousing's come per-drilled for the starter?

The reason I ask is after talking to everyone including Rob at robbmc starters I am beginning to think that my starter(s) are not engaging properly radially...as in the teeth are not meshing fully. What do you think is this possible?

[SSSammy]

Originally Posted by Kramer

Quick Question:do lakewood bellhousing's come per-drilled for the starter?

The reason I ask is after talking to everyone including Rob at robbmc starters I am beginning to think that my starter(s) are not engaging properly radially...as in the teeth are not meshing fully. What do you think is this possible?

Yes, mine was drilled and threaded. As Rick Lake was saying, your bell housing itself could be seriously off center. I had this problem. To detect this, you need to have the trans and clutch out of the car and put a magnetic base dial indicator on the flywheel so you can measure the concentricity of the register bore of the bell housing with the flywheel/crank center line. Lakewood describes this procedure:
FAQs

This is more easily done with the motor out of the car. But it can be done in the car. Take the plugs out so you can rotate the crank with a wrench on the front of the engine while you measure the eccentricity of the BH.

But, if the BH is so far out radially that the FW and starter are not meshing, I don't know that you would even be able to get the trans input shaft into the pilot bushing. You would not be able to bolt up the trans. So if your trans was mating with the clutch plate and pilot bushing, BH alignment was probably close enough.

As I said in my last response, I am concerned about tooth pitch mismatch between starter pinion and FW.

Sam