428 starter eater

[Jim Weatherall]

I want to raise the issue of starters and FE engines.

My Bendix clutch failed very early in its life cranking our beast. Dennis Mosley, who also has a 428, has gone through several starters. My engine builder has been racing 428 Mustangs for years and tells me a year is as much as he expects from a starter. Of course he is cranking a lot in the staging lanes at the strip.

When we were in Corpus with Paul Cass recently I met a starter shop owner. He is building me a custom gear reduction starter that he believes will hold up. He is going to use a Nippon Denso motor and all heavy duty parts.

In the mean time I have obtained a replacement "stock style" starter from my engine builder. He explained to me one issue with the rebuilt stock starters is sometimes you get a unit that was originally on a 200 cid six cylinder engine and the Bendix and solinoid are light duty. He tries to get the rebuilder to pay attention to this problem.

I would like to know of any experience others have.

Jim

[Coloradocobra]

The only problem I have had with my stock starter is that between machining and my Lakewood housing, the starter was too close to the flywheel. I caught the problem very early and installed a standard Ford style starter shim (.010" thick). Have not had a problem since. Before you tear up that fancy new starter, check your flange to flywheel gear distance and ensure that the starter gear will not engage too deeply. My starter was a Bosch rebuilt and my engine builder has had much better luck with those than starters from the big chains.

Gary

[Jim Weatherall]

I am not sure how to measure how far the starter gear will extend. Perhaps I would actuate the starter on the bench. The starter that is being built for me can be adjusted for depth or I can use a shim like you suggested.

[Coloradocobra]

Jim,

Take a six-inch scale and set it across the block plate where the starter mounts and measure the distance to the front face of the starter gear. If you cannot simply pull the bendix out, then run it on a bench as you suggest and carefully measure the distance it extends as well as the retracted distance. I identified my problem when checking valves. As I rotated the crank, I heard a scraping at the starter. It was actually hitting the gear just sitting there. When I pulled the starter, you could see the face of the bendix was rubbing against the face of the starter gear. It must happen frequently enough for Pep Boys to stock the spacer on the shelf. I'm probably being retentive in suggesting you do all this but your frequent starter failures are suspicious! Don't just install the shim as you want to ensure that you are getting full gear contact or you'll start breaking teeth.

Good luck,

Gary

[Sonny]

the comment on 6 cyliner starters are right on, never replaced the starter on my son's car after years of kicking over a 428 Lemans w/10.5 compression engine. it happens to be a non bronze bushing starter, but a bearing one from a thunderbird. a world of diff.