[sherpa]

I started a thread on May 13 asking about a Hays safety rated flywheel. Several comments were made about trouble trying to get the starter to work with the ring gear on the Hays flywheel. The problem was the position of the ring gear teeth was significantly different than stock. Even changing to a mini starter required machining the starter housing to make it work.

I decided to purchase a PRW flywheel hoping to avoid the starter problems. No such luck. The overall width of the flywheel including the ring gear is an eighth inch wider than the stock flywheel. Also the position of the ring gear is further away from the crankshaft mounting surface. Both of these issues cause the teeth on the flywheel to almost touch the shaft on the starter and the teeth are almost at the nose of the starter housing. Shimming the starter would help move the shaft away from the ring gear but would not solve the position of the teeth being at the nose of the starter housing. If there are solutions to these problems I sure welcome the input. Thanks

[lust4speed]

Most of the mini starters come with spacer ring(s) to move the pinion gear forward and away from the flywheel if necessary. Maybe just lucky, but have never had to use the spacers.

[gtofreek]

Can you post a picture of the starter/ringgear relationship?

[Doug]

Here are some photos of my recent use of an IMI Hy-Torque mini-starter with a PRW flywheel on a 67 428 engine (changeover from auto tranny to manual).

The starter teeth didn't "fully" engage across the flywheel teeth. I contacted IMI, sent them the starter with my measurements, etc. They machined the mounting block and sent it back to me at their expense.

It fits perfect without using any flat shims between the mounting block and engine. Gear mesh was within spec. Run-out of the PRW flywheel was within spec.

First photo-- engagement before machining mounting block
Second photo-- after machining mounting block

[mgarblik]

Looks like they did a great job fitting the starter for you. There are many, many starters out there running like picture #1. They will work for awhile like that if not really high compression and not too much initial timing. You are good to go now.

[jonmachota78]

Your pic#1 looks better than my CVR starter fits.. But they said as long as you have 1/2 tooth engagement your OK... I've been OK for 14 years now but I still don't like it.

[sherpa]

Thanks for the informative replies. With the comments about the mini starter being able to accommodate the ring gear position of the aftermarket flywheel with machining and or the spacer ring(s) I will stay with the PRW flywheel and purchase the mini starter. I am not tech savvy enough to post pictures yet as gtofreek requested, but I sure learn a lot from the threads with pictures. Thanks to all.