Need Help (in a bad way)

[Texas Landau]

I have rebuilt my engine and transmission on my 63, and everything was going ok until....

I replaced the flywheel with one from a 64 Galaxie, 390, CM trans. I had a little trouble putting the stock starter with the starter drive back in; it just seemed to be in a bind with the flywheel and would not work.

So I got a later model starter with a bendix on it and it went right in. When I started the car, it would make a little metal-on-metal noise, but started and ran fine.

After a few drives, however, the starter would get too hot (I have FPA headers and the starter is way close) and not work untill it cooled down.

So I got a gear reduction starter and a heat shield. When I went to replace the starter, I noticed all the teeth on my formerly pristine flywheel were ground down.

I then assumed I put the flywheel in improperly-backwards, or perhaps covered the converter drain plugs-causing the flywheel to be warped.

Well, I now have the car on a lift, and I am about to drop the trans to replace the flywheel....but it sure seems to be in correctly. It is facing the right way, the drain plugs are in the holes, etc.

The shop manual is not much help; My question is-does the bolt ring go between the crank and the flywheel? This does not seem correct. I have it on the outside with the flywheel bolted to the crank.

ANY help here would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Texas Landau]

Fixed!

BTW: Just because a Galaxie has the same motor and trans from the same year......the flywheels have a different offset than a 'Bird......

[Hawkrod]

I think you may be in for a disappointing failure. Tbird and Galaxie do use the same flywheel from 58-64 and there is no difference in offset despite what you may think. In 65 they changed ever so slightly but the difference was so minor you probably did not notice it but it was likely the problem that caused your noise and wear. The 65 has a different count on the ring gear teeth. You can use any 58-64 flywheel with any 58-64 starter but to use the late model short starter you need a 65-76 flywheel of what you describe will happen. 65 and newer have 184 teeth and 64 and older have 153 teeth. The diameter is the same and they are interchangeable but you need to use the correct starter for the flywheel. You can use a 65 and newer flywheel in the older car and use the later short starter and it will all bolt together with no modifications. To ues an early flywheel in a later car is asomething of a problem because there is no hole for the starter drive to fit into. The reinforcement ring goes under the bolt heads and distributes the bolt load across the flywheel center. And finally a bit of trivia, Ford did not use a flexplate. Ford used a "Flywheel-Automatic Transmission". Today we accept that a thin stamped steel plate with a ring gear that is designed to have a torque convertor bolted to it is called a flexplate but back when these cars were new a flexplate was a small seperate part and did not have the ring gear as part of it. Chryslers used flexplates, Ford used flywheels! Hawkrod

[Texas Landau]

I re-installed the original flywheel that came on the car and it is not working, either. I have now obtained a later model flywheel from a 390 with a C6 trans and a new style starter. This flywheel is slightly larger than the one I was using and does indeed have 184 teeth.

I will now be using a later model flywheel with a later model starter, and I really hope this works. I found it odd, however, that the oem style starter with the drive on it was binding up so bad on the flywheel I could not even bolt it into the bellhousing.

There IS a difference in the flywheels from the Thunderbird and Galaxie, and it is easily seen when they are side by side. Now the Thunderbird is a 63 and the Galaxie is a 64, but they are different.

As far as it being a failure, that's the way it goes sometimes working on old cars. Although this is the first time I have encountered this particular trouble, I have been working on cars since my early teens and something always goes a bit rougher than anyone likes....but that's part of the challenge, isn't it?

Thanks!

[Hawkrod]

Sorry, you are wrong. There is absolutely no difference in a 63 Tbird 390 and a 64 Galaxie 390. Both cars use a B8A-6375-B flywheel. Unless you mistakenly found a 64 Galaxie 352 flywheel I can't figure out how you could have a problem. The 59-64 Galaxie 352 can have a B9A 6375-C flywheel when it has a Fordomatic trans instead of a Cruisomatic but Ford never put those behind a 390. If you have two different parts then one of them is not properly identified. Hawkrod

[Texas Landau]

OK.........

[6TB1RD]

Not alone

I had the same problem in my '60 with a 352. to save all the headakes I just went out a got a new flywheel 184 teeth and starter to match, hole thing new cost less then $75.00 and my headakes were gone some times better just to buy new parts then try to find a used one at a recking yard.