Starter Help

[82CJ7JEEP]

I am currently replacing my AMC 360 with a 302. I have learned alot but am having one heck of a time finding a starter that fits. It is an 86 ford 302, the bell housing is an 84 f-150 and the flywheel is 157 tooth that Novak adapters said to use. I have tried three different starters and all of them do not engage the flywheel. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Catoctin Jeep]

You have to use a bell housing that matches the flywheel or the starter will not engage or the bendix will slam into it. The F-150 bell housing that you are using may be designed for a 164 tooth count, you are using 157, so with that set-up your bendix will not engage. This can work in the opposite direction as well. A bell housing designed for a 157t and a 164t tooth flywheel is used, the bendix will slam into the face of the flywheel.

Hope this sheds some light on your project. You could have just installed an AMC 304, but the 302 is a good engine.

 

[69jeepcj]

Amc used ford starters, silinoids, coils, ignition modules, and other stuff, (actually had a module go out in a late 80,s ranger "87" I think, had an extra for my 79 cj and used it, pluged it into the ranger and fired it up. the ranger had a swapped 302). have you tried the cj,s starter yet? I always thought the flywheels were either 168-158 tooth flywheel, but maybe not for newer cars. Is the bendix even hitting the flywheel? if so you may need to use shims on the starter to get the correct engagment. I was reading recently about starters as mine is out and cant find one (65,327) and while scaning over a post I seen something about newer flywheels with tone rings on them??????????????? didnt really read it as it didnt apply to me, but if that is true, might have something to do with it. I would think any ford starter for the correct tooth flywheel would work. I always thought the bellhousing had to match the clutch size used and the starter match the flywheel used?? I may be incorrect though.

 

[carnuck]

Ford used waaaaay too many different starters over the years. (nose changes mostly for different offsets and tooth counts)
The starters AMC used till '87 were built by Ford, but the design wasn't used by ANY Fords. The nose is longer than Ford (later ones were shorter due to the change in offset of the flywheel for the tone ring of the crank position sensor) and so is the drive gear.