I have a 400 small block in my garage and I'm wanting to drop it in my '86 Trans Am. The T/A is a 305/700r4 car. Will the 168 tooth flexplate work with the T/As tranny and starter? Will I have any issues with the balancer on the 400 hitting the crossmember or anything?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

 

The motor will drop right in w no problem's and the flywhell will work, but see if it has duel convertor mounting patters or the convertor may not bolt up. The starter will only work with the flywheel its intended for so if there a 154 tooth in there you'll need a new starter as well for the 168 tooth or see if you can get a 154 tooth fly wheel for the 400 it may be cheaper but you can just swap the flywheel between motor since the 400 has a differant wieght on it for the external balance.

 

For the sake of technical correctness, it's 153-tooth.

As stated, you can't use the 153-tooth 3rd gen starter with the 168-tooth flexplate. The 168-tooth flexplate will move the starter outboard. Some 3rd gen headers interfere with a 168-tooth flexplate starter. The solution is to get a mini starter.

 

if you need a mini and you use a 153 tooth you can get a starter for an lt1 f-body, just an idea

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...3&autoview=sku

A link for a dual pattern flywheel, but you would need a mini starter, cause it's 168 tooth.

A friend of mine has a 350 flywheel with a weight bolted to it.... it was like that when he got the engine. That might be something a machine shop can do, but I'm not sure.

 

If it is an '86-later engine, it will have a weight welded to it. That's the one-piece rear main seal design, which takes the weight that was previously part of the crank (but still external to the rear main) and moves it to the flexplate.

One-piece rear main seal crank surface must be round to the end of the crank so the seal can slip over the seal area. It's pretty simple, mechanically, but seems to confuse people that haven't seen '85-earlier SBC's.

 

You can use the 168 tooth flywheel, it will fit inside the 700R4. However if you do you will have to get a different starter. The LT1 starter won't work because it's for the 153 tooth, the bolt pattern is different and so is the diameter of the flywheel. You can have some machine work done to use a 153 tooth flywheel on the 400.

Just get a starter off a 98 chevy truck. It uses a staggered bolt pattern and a 168 tooth flywheel like the 400's did. It's a mini style starter so it will fit inside the bellhousing. Depending on what type of exhaust you have, some aftermarket mini starters won't work.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...up-starts.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...r-finally.html

Those are two links to my 400 build and putting it in my 89 T/A. It covers everything from putting longer rods in the engine and having starter problems. I hope it can help.

 

good call on the truck starter i forgot about that

 

Do you have more info on the truck starter? Like which year models and is it the same starter for the different engines?

 

I will get a part # in the morning.

 

Awesome. Much appreciated.

 

Part number is DL9990S. It's for a 98 Chevy truck w/ a 350.

 

Picked two up from the local yard for $10 each and both work perfect. You saved me a good chunk of money. Thanks bud.

 

There have been so many people that have helped me in the past. I am glad I could help someone for once.

 

if everything should fit u can use the start thats the starter i used for my sbc400 problem is 400s are hot motors so your probly gonna burn up starters and so just keep your flywheel in good shape