Alight guy's here's the deal....

I put everything on the car and basically it was ready to fire *the new 383*. The flywheel is an axternally balanced 400 flywheel wich has larger radious because it is 168 tooth and not 153 like my 305 was. The starter I ordered say's it was for a 168 flywheel and it does bolt up ALOT better then the original starter did except its just a little t close. I shimmed it with the three shims that were on my former starter and even added 2 more to draw it away even further but still. Now also, I put the flywheel on with te balancing weight twoards the transmission because it lined up to the crank bolts and it has some type of lips that either go in or out right where the torque converter bolts to. The weights prevented the torque converter from touching the flywheel by about 1/4" on one bolt hol so I shimmed the other two two exactly the same amount. But the starter is off a little. The starter bangs the flywheel but turns the motor, I'm talking its BARELY touching the bottom of the teeth. Should I shim it a little more? THANKS

 

Actually its a little less than 1/4" from the flywheel. I know I got the torque converter in all the way.

 

I'm just scared I'll have to remove the trans again
Please help

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The "pads" on the flexplate should go rearward, toward the trans. The weight should be toward the engine. If you look closely at the center, you will notice that it has a lip around the inside of the center hole; that lip goes rearward, such that the opposite side which is flat is up against the crank. It sounds to me like the flexplate is backwards. There is a hole in the crank flange and a hole in the flexplate that should line up. If that is off it will vibrate severely.

You can shim the starter as much as necessary.

You don't have to pull the trans all the way out. Put 2 real long bolts in 2 of the bell housing bolt holes, and slide the trans rearward as far as it will go on those bolts. If you use 4" or longer bolts, you should be able to get plenty of clearance in there to work on stuff.

BTW this is a 2-piece-rear-main-seal block, isn't it?

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Its a 1 piece rear main seal. Its a newer block I guess it even has centerbolt heads. Well I guess I'm off to remove EVERYTHING I JUST GOT DONE WITH *bursts into tears*
THANKS I hope this is all thats wrong

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Bummer dude... consider it as valuable practice for those in-between-runs thrashes...

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

get a new starter. Go to the parts store and get one for a 78 chevytruck with a 400.

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87z 383,afr 190's, comp hyd roller(242/248-.540/.562,114 sep),Ported and polished mini ram, 30lb inj, 3.42 gears, tremec 5spd, , 1,3/4" slp headers, speed pro bank to bank-wb02.
"Just remember children, no man can beat you once youv'e found the cliterous." 'chef'

 

I'm with RB on this one- I think you got the flexplate in backwards. All 3 "arms" of the torque converter should just about touch the flexplate before you push the bolts through and tighten down. NEVER EVER EVER SHIM BETWEEN THE FLEXPLATE AND TRQUE CONVERTER! That's full engine torque being carried by those 3 little bolts! ANY chance you give them to start "working" as you get on and off the gas will eventually resust in catastrophic parts breakage!

FYI- I belive that your one-piece rear main takes a slightly DIFFERENT FLEXPLATE than the earlier blocks do. I don't know what's different but know SOMETHING is different about them because all the catalogs clearly ahve different part numbers for stuff designed for one piece rear main versus earlier two piece rear mains. You should really talk to the tech department of a flexplate/flywheel MANUFACTURER and make sure you understand the differences- they could be important. And how many more times you want to tear into this thing??

 

I believe it's the flexplate bolt circle that's different on the one piece crank flex plates. Also the starters for a 400 block have a different nose than the 350 block. One has mounting bolts that are straight across and the other has bolts that are diagonal to each other.

Forgot which is which, but I can look it up if you need to know.

I couldn't use my 350 one piece rear main seal flexplate or 350 starter on the 400 block when I swapped from my 355 to my current 415.

I agree, too, that the flexplate is on backwards. The "pads" through which the torque converter bolts go, face the converter, not the engine.

Be sure the converter "drops twice" to fully engage the trans pump, then pull the converter slightly forward until it meets the flexplate. Some flexplates have a dual bolt pattern; just turn the converter until the correct three holes align.

Don't tighten the torque converter bolts until all three are started and pull 'em up evenly. The converter should touch the flexplate and the flexplate should not bend when the bolts are torqued; if it does you'll get a wobble.

Also, I can't figure out why you're having such a misalignment with your starter drive meshing with the flexplate teeth. I suspect something's mismatched or out of proper alignment.

Flipping the flexplate may correct it all.

Good thing you caught it now. Let us know how it turns out.

Jake

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1986 Corvette Coupe, 415 CID, Edelbrock 6073s, ZZ9

 

Seriously, THANK YOU ALL. I'm extremly dissapointed in myself for not asking BEFORE I bolted it all together but I thought sinbce it looked the same on bothe sides, it didnt matter. Anyway I'm going to finish the car tommorow and will send dirk some burnout or race video's to say thanks to all you guy's
Rath

 

I switched it and the torque converter is about 1/2 mabye a little less from the flywheel. I got the trans lined up and stabbed but I had to pull the converter to meet the flywheel but havnt bolted anything together yet. Was that to far to pull it? Please help me I'm doing it right now.

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Anybody?

 

And OMG is is SOOOOOO hard to turn the flywheel from the bottom of the car. I'm pretty good sized and can barely turn it. My engine has 10.3:1 compression could that be the reason? It turns a little then it gets real hard in some spots. Please help

 

Can somebody give me a phone# to help out a little? I'm kinda needing this car to be done or give me a call (559)261-2514

 

OK. Which way are the raised or bulged-out places around the torque converter bolts facing now? They should be rearward, toward the TC. If you took the flex plate all the way out, did you notice the raised lip around the center of it where it goes over the pilot in the end of the crank? That should also be rearwards, away from the crank flange.

You shouldn't have more than ¼" or so of gap between the flex plate pads and the TC bolt pads. Is the trans all the way up against the engine block? Nothing (wiring harnessses, etc.) separating them?

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

The trans is all the way up against the block I'm sure of that. There is about a 1/2" gap and the weights are facing the engine while the little raised "pads" that the converter bolts go through are facing the trans. Also the Flywheel looks to be slighty um..... Kinda like a UFO I guess it goes in towards the center and comes out towards the trans a little, but the pads look like they compensate for the bend. I'm confused now as to wich way the flywheel goes or if its bent. The torque converter I have on there now I measured up against my old one and they match perfectly I dont know what to do now

 

Your description of the flex plate doesn't sound right. Usually they are almost flat, with the crank flange stamped a little toward the crank from the plane the rest of the flex plate is in, if it's anything but flat at all; and the pads are embossed toward the TC about 1/8" or so from the rest of the plate. If yours isn't flat then something's not right. The thing is, there isn't any other possible combination of parts that would require a flex plate like you describe, and I have a hard time believing it's made that far wrong.

What brand of flex plate is it? I sure don't know where you'd get another one from right now, but maybe in the morning you could check some others and see if the one you have matches them. It just doesn't sound right to me.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I know I'm going to go try to buy another flywheel, should I just say I need a 400 flywheel? Those all come externally balanced right?

 

There's no such thing as a one-piece 400 block & crank, therefore no such thing as the flywheel you need was ever installed in a car from the factory. That complicates matters a bit: what you have is strictly a specialty item. That's also what makes me wonder what you have and where you got it and what it's called, because it would have to be a fairly unusual thing.

Is the rotating assembly you are using actually externally balanced? That is, do you need a 400 flex plate as such, or would a 305/350 one work? Or, for that matter, do you know for a fact that your crank's "unbalance" is exactly the same as a stock 2-piece 400 would be? Because if it is, you can take a regular 305/350 flex plate to a machine shop and simply have them either weld the right weight on it, or drill the opposite side if they have a way of balance testing it.

Also, where it is now, does the starter drive withdraw far enough into the nosepiece to miss the ring gear when it's not in use, and come out and engage the ring gear correctly? That's another clue to the fore-aft orientation of the parts...

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I just switched a 2-piece 305 to a one piece rear main 350 in my 82Z, The easiest thing to do is to get a 153 tooth one piece flexplate, the one i have is externally balanced and is completly flat. If you get the 153 tooth flexplate you should be able to use you old starter, I used mine off my 305, this is all i know from experience--- forget this jargon I did not read that it was a 383--- sorry

[This message has been edited by Black82Z (edited March 04, 2001).]

 

Alright I got a new flywheel and when I compared the new one and the old I noticed the one I've been having problems with, was WAAAAAAAAY bent! I'm really happy for the person at kragen here in town for looking through all of the flywheels he had while the rest of the employees were telling him to stop and he was wasting his time by not having a year/part# to look it up. They were all pissed because there were like 7-10 customers waiting and he was helping just me and didnt really care that he had to look so hard. The flywheel matches up perfectly and I'm going to go see what happens I'll be back in about two hours to post my results. THANKS again for now
Rath

 

So what were the results? We're all waiting.

Jake

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1986 Corvette Coupe, 415 CID, Edelbrock 6073s, ZZ9

 

Well it fit perfectly!
The flywheel was bent for sure. I didnt start the car up yet but the starter is engaging correctly. I tested it by turning the key real fast and barely kicking it. I'm so glad I mentioned the flywheel when I did or else I would still be under the car trying to figure it out. Hey! Thanks guy's!

 

Great news.

Jake

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1986 Corvette Coupe, 415 CID, Edelbrock 6073s, ZZ9

 

Glad to hear the mystery is solved.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports