[RICK LAKE]

Excaliber Have you looked at other starters and there drives. What starter manufacture unit do you have? Some of the mini's have the same motor and drive gear assembly. You may have a powermaster mini. a tilton will work drive may work. I also run a tight gear to gear clearance of .038"-.045". This gap is at the tightest spot between the drive and flywheel ring. A heavy paperclip should just fit between the 2 gears. Tilton comes with 3 housing shims and 2 motor shims in the kit. I have a lakewood bell housing centered to the block. So far no problem and good gear contact on the flywheel. With your OEM starter, there is a kit, think it is called hot start, that comes with a relay and a wiring harness. It supplies more amps to the soleinoid of the starter. There are light duty and heavy duty ford starter soleinoids that mount on the fire wall. I am running a Sorison blue top. Its for heavy duty trucks with an "I" and "S" terminal. If you don't like the color, spray it black. Have you tryed to rotate the main battery terminals in the soleinoid. They get cooked over a 150 starts. with 600-1000 amps on the first contact, it's like welding in there.Just a thought. Rick See you are alot happier with your new motor and the small cam.