ZW99GT

Sorry if this is the wrong section, but I just wanted input from you guys as alot are running same tranny, bell, flywheel, starter, etc.... Thanks.

408W
12.5:1 C/R on E85
C4 with stock 164tooth bell
Stock 164tooth flexplate
start retard on!

I was recommended by a couple people to get the Advance Auto starter so I went down there and bought a World Wide Automotive P3205S starter.

It spun GREAT. Turned the motor over really really fast and did great for maybe 20-30 cranks. Then it just all went to hell. Would barely turn the motor over and one day just snapped teeth off the starter gear. So we put the little plate that goes between the motor and tranny (sorry IDK what that's called) and measured everything up. Checked the flywheel and it was still good. So we went back and got another starter and it cranked over great 5 starts. Then started chewing up the teeth again.

Have you guys ever had trouble with depth engagement? Are those starters just pure junk or what? What am I doing wrong here? lol

zebo87

ive had some issues with my starter lately. i know i need a new bell housing. ive had to tap one of the holes once then i tapped it again a second time because the bolt was vibrating out and boring the hole out. if its not a bell housing issue id guess maybe a ring gear issue. i put a powermaster on and i ate up one gear on it and stripped the next one. i went back to a stock and it was fine until the two bolt brackets broke one day. ive never seen that before so i hope it doesnt happen again.

ZW99GT

The holes in the bell housing are great. What do you mean by ring gear problem?

AdderMk2

worldwide starters are crap... always have been, always will be. Shoulda bought a Remy

zebo87

im not sure to be honest. i was talking to the guy who replaced my gear on my 4th starter. he is a starter and flywheel problem. he told me to pull the ring gear out and look at it. i was able to see it as i rotated the crank and there wasnt any problem with the ring gear. another guy told me to replace the ring gear.

angcobra

starter shims are to make sure the starter is completely disengaged when the engine is running. You can look at the starter gear location compared to the flywheel when the starter is not engaged. Many folks listen to the sound just when the engine starts if it has a drag sound at the end, add a shim.

Liquid_02

Considering my setup is extremely close to yours... other than the trans and flexplate (it is a 164 tooth C4 Flexplate, just a TCI SFI one is all) I have a 4R70W behind my 408w, takes the same starter and flexplate, I had some trouble too with mine as-well. In fact, I JUST finished replacing my starter not 10 minutes ago, had to pull the hookers out so it was quite the ordeal. Had a Dixie remy in there from my old T-5, started the car maybe... 20 times with it (the new engine that is, put 3000km on the 5.0 & T-5 setup before I realized the 5.0 didn't have enough juice) I don't know if it was just time for the starter, or if the extra compression & displacement from the engine blew it out. Started sticking making my car sound like a 408w turbo then about 2 starts later just ground.

Put a Visteon remy in there (parts dealer gave me warranty which was nice since the starter is over a year past its warranty period, just no miles), tried it about 10 times to make sure everything's cool and it seems to work, for now. Visteon is a Ford owned company, and from what I've seen at our shop, since they stopped carrying Dixie, Visteon makes excellent stuff, they use the factory snout which is great, had many Dixie's break the snout off. We've never had a Visteon come back under warranty and we've put probably in the area of 100 of their starters on since this supplier started carrying them. Never put a warranty alternator on either.

Take a look into Visteon if anybody around where you are carries them, my cost on the starter for my 92 GT, if they didn't replace it under warranty, would have been $85, so they're cheap too.

ZW99GT

Now that you mention it, there was kind of a weird sound right when the motor fired up when the starter tried to disengage. I believe it was completely disengaging, but maybe catching right there at the end.

I was looking on Advance's website and they have starters with 3/8 and 3/4 offsets. Wonder which one I have and which one I need? What do I measure?

angcobra

They also have shims, just get a shim and put it between the starter and bell housing.

mjr46

if your using a factory produced ford bellhousing, I have never had to shim a starter...as long as you are using a stock style design starter