flywheel/starter question...

[Army_Dude]

How do insure the starter and flywheel are matched correctly?

[piecesparts]

When I mount a starter, I pull the shroud off that covers the flywheel/flexpalte and engage the starter drive gear into the teeth of the flexplate. The shop manuals that i have give a clearance of .020 gap between the tip of the starter drive gear tooth and the valley of the flexplate gear tooth. This distance is basically the same as the diameter of a "BIG" paperclip wire size. If this is off, I add or subtract shims to get the clearance right. I check this in a couple of places on the gears to ensure that I am getting a good fit.

[Army_Dude]

So your moving the 2 teeth (gears ) closer together? What do you use for shims?

The starter on my possible donor 350 will sometimes make a tremendous clank, next time I hit the button it will engage.

[piecesparts]

You can either move the teeth closer or further apart by adding or subtracting shims. I have even cut the shims and just put it on one of the bolts if needed. The local Auto supply outlets should have shim packets with different thicknesses of shims in it. Usually, but not always, when you purchase a rebuilt starter, there is a packet inside the box---depends on the rebuilder.

The clank that you are hearing is very possibly due to the starter being to tight to the flywheel. The instructions above should help you there. One thing that I didn't relate to you above, is that I take off my starter solenoid, so I can engage the gears without using power from the battery. This is easy to do and then after the starter is set to the right point, it can be taken off of the block and the solenoid re-installed. be sure that the starter drive is fully extended, so that the gears are in full mesh, then slide the wire gauge in between the gear teeth.