1993 Cobra Registry

you cant see bellhousing alignment, you have to measure for it, so the starter drive is damaged but not the ring gear? what about the starter bolts are they real starter bolts or just regular old bolts?. like i said above if its grinding these are the problem no doubt starter, flywheel, allignment

Same starter bolts it has always had and that predates this issue for many years. Now are they exactly the correct factory bolts? who knows. Now here is something else to consider. I just pulled the starter, removed the shim and reinstalled the starter. I had tried a start before removing the starter and the bendix did not mesh with the ring gear. So the flywheel had not moved. Once the starter was reinstalled, it performed 4 good normal starts. On the 5th attempt, the starter again failed to engage the ring gear. I have researched the correct bolts off the internet and what is always shown and described is what I have. Right now the starter visually inspects as good and serviceable. Like I said if I displace the starter and put it back into place, it seems to give a few good normal starts. The ring gear teeth also inspect as good and serviceable. Me and 2 other guys have all inspected the ring gear through the starter dust shield while rotating the engine slowly. We all concluded the ring gear inspected fine. So what have I not checked? The bellhousing seems to have no displacement. I understand that it is in place and with that I am making certail visual compromises but nothing looks nor feels displaced. All the bolts I can get to are tight..

Just tried an experiment. I pushed it forward in 5th gear so that the flywheel would move. I then did 3 good and normal starts. ????????

Flywheel!

Yes, I have come to the conclusion it must be a flywheel problem although until I have the flywheel actually removed to replace it, I don't know what that problem is.

The starter problem is solved. The ring gear teeth were badly worn. Worn at an extreme angle so therefore too shallow for the bendix gear to engage. I replaced the flywheel, clutch, throw out bearing, rear main seal, pilot bearing, bellhousing, and the tranny front bearing cover/input shaft sleeve with the upgraded one with the steel sleeve. The starter now is quiet and normal on starts. My Convertible drives and shifts normal with none of the adverse noises I had been hearing as well.

Georgia Snake wrote:My Convertible drives and shifts normal with none of the adverse noises I had been hearing as well.

It damn well better after all that work and replacement of parts!!
Glad to hear your problem is solved.

1993cobra wrote:maybe the dowels were lost when you had the clutch work done and the bellhousing is not properly aligned? how does the flywheel teeth look? are you getting full voltage to the starter?

Georgia Snake wrote:For what it is worth. Just pulled the Ford starter off. It inspected as ok and serviceable. I reinstalled it using the shim I bought. So far, 12 good starts with no issue. The Ford starter is its 4th starter that failed yesterday. I have done all the electrical checks and they all passed. The Flywheel teeth look ok and serviceable. I inspected them myself as well as 2 other guys and we came to the same conclusion about the ring gear teeth being ok. We will see over the next while, whatever that turns out to be, if the shim did some magic somehow.

1993cobra wrote:

1993cobra wrote:maybe the dowels were lost when you had the clutch work done and the bellhousing is not properly aligned? how does the flywheel teeth look? are you getting full voltage to the starter?

Georgia Snake wrote:For what it is worth. Just pulled the Ford starter off. It inspected as ok and serviceable. I reinstalled it using the shim I bought. So far, 12 good starts with no issue. The Ford starter is its 4th starter that failed yesterday. I have done all the electrical checks and they all passed. The Flywheel teeth look ok and serviceable. I inspected them myself as well as 2 other guys and we came to the same conclusion about the ring gear teeth being ok. We will see over the next while, whatever that turns out to be, if the shim did some magic somehow.

The way the flywheel teeth were worn you could not tell until it was removed and the teeth were inspected while holding it.