I am putting a 77 305 into an 86 5 speed IROC. I had to get a different flywheel but the starter will not work and I can't find any starter from the 6 I have laying around that will work. The one off the car has inline bolt holes while the block is only drilled for offset bolt holes. Any suggestions?

 

I bought this new one; http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-1319-n...sdr0031-l.aspx

It does have the offset mounting and a planetary gear set inside for the gear reduction, we use their ATV/UTV starters at work and haven't had any issues.

You could go to your local parts store and buy a "rebuilt" stock starter for a 77 Implala with a 305, but you'll pay more for less over this brand new "Racing" starter.....

 

The problem seems to be with the bellhousing. The nose of the starter does not fit into the hump in the bellhousing for the starter. I hope I am not the first person to ever run into this problem. The flywheel is a manual trans 153 tooth. If it were an automatic the other starter would work.

 

There is no cheap and easy way to fix this. Your manual bell housing will only accommodate the 153-tooth flywheel/starter combo. Your block will only accommodate the 168-tooth flywheel/starter. You can either drill and tap the third mounting hole for 153 starter or use an aftermarket bell housing that is made to clear the 168 starter. Either way, make sure your flywheel is for the internally balanced engines ('86 and up were externally balanced.) I found my Lakewood bell housing for ~$400. I went that route as I couldn't drill and tap that hole exactly where it needed to be.

 

I had similar problem with my swap, my fix was using a sbc 400 starter for my 383. needed to be staggered to line it up.

 

If you drilled and tapped the third hole you could use a starter like this; http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-1304-c...-hp-mt200.aspx

That would likely be cheaper and easier than locating another bell housing.....

 

Here is a video i made on how to tap and drill an engine block for a 153 tooth flywheel if your block has only staggered starter mounting bolt holes..

 

just to clarify: the first drill bit for the pilot hole for the knurled part of the bolt to sit in was 3/8" and not the 5/8" you stated in the video, and the drill bit for the part of the hole that got threaded was 5/16" and not the 3/16" you stated.. actually, a slightly bigger drill for the threaded part will make the tap go in much easier than the 5/16" drill without giving up strength- like one size bigger (forget the actual fraction right off hand)

you should have been able to use a slightly bigger 12 point socket to drive the tap instead of attacking it with the bench grinder to fit the 1/4" socket.. also, always use lube on the tap..

and it's always good practice to clean all the crap off the starter mounting surface before mounting the starter: i don't even like to have paint there. not only does the starter sit flatter, but it helps with the ground connection. and if you are drilling holes like you are, you definitely want that surface to be bare metal to get the starter that you are using as a guide to sit as flat as possible.