If you're not checking this, you'll have trouble sooner or later. Aftermarket starter mounting blocks are notorious for being off...no matter what the brand.
I have done them like that before, but I read that the clearance is supposed to be checked on the side of the pinion tooth to the wall of the flexplate tooth. Without redoing your pic, that area just below the thin arrow. I looked over the who setup and started over again and ended up putting two shims in to get clearance using a standard paper clip which measured .020. It's better but still noisier than I would like but if I go tighter, I am thinking it might drag a bit and if I loosen it up, it might be like it was before where it literally refused to engage at times. The flexplate has a couple hits in it but nothing horrible (I dressed those real easy with a fine file) and the starter drive was in better shape than I thought.
I have done them like that before, but I read that the clearance is supposed to be checked on the side of the pinion tooth to the wall of the flexplate tooth. Without redoing your pic, that area just below the thin arrow. I looked over the who setup and started over again and ended up putting two shims in to get clearance using a standard paper clip which measured .020. It's better but still noisier than I would like but if I go tighter, I am thinking it might drag a bit and if I loosen it up, it might be like it was before where it literally refused to engage at times. The flexplate has a couple hits in it but nothing horrible (I dressed those real easy with a fine file) and the starter drive was in better shape than I thought.
Does this flexplate have a leading edge? A beveled tooth to start the engagement like all the OEM stuff has. Or is it a blunt tooth ? Those are a failure waiting to happen. They promote a non smooth engagement and aggressive wear.
Does this flexplate have a leading edge? A beveled tooth to start the engagement like all the OEM stuff has. Or is it a blunt tooth ? Those are a failure waiting to happen. They promote a non smooth engagement and aggressive wear.
Do you have a big oil pan with a kick out. Make sure the starter is not up against the pan causing some misalignment or the header jammed up against it. The real starter bolts has a knurled portion on the bolt to mate with the counter bored holes for the starter in the block. If you are using hardware bolts that could be an issue with misalignment. Just some more stuff to look at.
Do you have a big oil pan with a kick out. Make sure the starter is not up against the pan causing some misalignment or the header jammed up against it. The real starter bolts has a knurled portion on the bolt to mate with the counter bored holes for the starter in the block. If you are using hardware bolts that could be an issue with misalignment. Just some more stuff to look at.
Powermaster says to measure it at the side not the root.So who's right? The manufacturer should have a solid idea of the correct measurement. And a note they use a standard paper clip which is what I used.
Not sure how your starter is wired, but have heard using a ford type solenoid to send power to the starter - then using a short jumper from the main cable to the solenoid terminal can sometimes cause issues.
We use the solenoid on all of them, this one is no different. The engine spins and fires, I just think it's still a bit noisy. I always use a #10 wire for the jumper on the starter solenoid - never had a power issue. Also this car has two starter buttons, one next to the ignition toggle and another on the firewall. Either one spinning the starter makes the same noise. I might have some time to look at it again tomorrow and I'll see if .035 is the trick or not.
Not sure how your starter is wired, but have heard using a ford type solenoid to send power to the starter - then using a short jumper from the main cable to the solenoid terminal can sometimes cause issues.
Shop I used to get my electrical components from told me not to use a remote solinoid with any permanent magnet starter, won't want to disengage is what I remember. I've had good luck with the factory minis, but I don't have that much compression.
I have a Powermaster Ultratorque 9400 also and just looked at the directions. The picture and verbiage says .020" to .035" clearance. Inserting a wire guage between the ring gear tooth tip, and valley between two starter pinion teeth. And it says you can use a #1 standard paper clip. It says nothing about side clearance. Which I bet would be fine if you get to that paper clip clearance.
Their instructions show a flywheel tooth between two starter pinion teeth... and you stick your wire gauge at the top of the flywheel tooth.
When I had my starter bridgeport machined by powermaster's tech dept, it then fit a paperclip nicely and that was years ago with no issues since. Before machining the starter it had way too much gap and would rip teeth off regularly.
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