[ByronRACE]

The story I got from Lakewood is that their magic bellhousing works with ANY flywheel...whether 176, 184, or anything in-between and that I'm the only one in the universe to report this problem. LOL

The story I got from Tilton is that someone at Lakewood originally made a MISTAKE when designing the 385 bell and designed it for the FE flywheel because of a mistake made on the mockup engine. Who knows if that is true.

Considering that the most popular flywheel for a 385 series is 176 tooth, it seems ridiculous that lakewood hasn't fixed this issue or that some starter company hasn't come up with a special version for this combo. I'm going to measure my geometry and publish what needs to be done to the starter to fix it in a cad drawing when I get time.

One thing is for sure; I'm not pulling the engine/trans just to change the flywheel to one that isn't a common 385 part to fix lakewoods mistake. I'd rather change the starter. When I do pull the engine, the lakewood bell will go on ebay and I'll get a McLeod modular unit. I wish that was available when I did my build.

Byron