80TexasC3

Easy question for those that know... not so easy for those that don't like myself...

Is there an easy way to figure out how many teeth your flywheel has without having to remove the trans, bell housing, etc? I have a 1980 L48 4 speed car...and the original starter has been on the car over numerous upgrades including lighter weight flywheel and transmission.

I recently put an MSD mini starter on the car and it works...but sounds like it struggles to turn over the car in a rythm fassion...not a constant turning over of the engine like the stock unit....in other words, it begins to turn over the engine..then slows down then speeds up again..

Again... the stock unit worked fine but I had to go to a mini with the new oil pan. THANKS IN ADVANCE EVERYONE!

Here is what I have...I checked with Jegs and they did not give an option for a 158 or 163 tooth flywheel... only one part number...???





MSD Advanced Power System Starter

You can have MSD performance from
start to finish with the APS Starter...

Even if you have the highest compression engine in the hottest spot, you can have the power for strong, consistent starts.
Applications
Chevy V8 (153- and 168-tooth flywheels)

Highlights

3-horsepower motor
Cranks over the reduced 4.4:1 gear set to deliver high torque to the engine's ring gear
Armature balanced during assembly and guided by two ball bearings for smooth engagement
Downsized housing clears most headers and oil pans but, just in case, the billet mount can be clocked differently to assist tight fits
Assembly is powdercoated MSD red for long-lasting good looks

big_G

You have the small flywheel. The starter has provisions for either size, (4 mounting holes). If you had it wrong, you would know it.

80TexasC3

A-ha... so the number of teeth has nothing to do with the size of the starts gear?

gkull

If that is your starter shown in this post. See how it has 4 holes in the mounting block? If mounted close inboard you have the smaller diameter 153 tooth.

The holes in the face of the mounting block are for rotating the starter for header or kickout type oil pan clearance.

Check you initial timing. Way high can cause the starter to not zing you up

80TexasC3

Initial timing is set at 12... could the starter need to be shimmed to get some space between the fly wheel and starter gear?

gkull

You have to shim the starter to the block to get the best tooth engagement. I arbitrarily install a couple of shim and tighten everything down. I just use a screw driver to short the kick out sel. and look at the amount of engagement. Then i will add and remove shims to see how much it changes. I was able to get @ 50% with my7 mini.

As for timing. The total timing really determines the initial. That is why i had my dist. recourved for 18 degrees total mech advance to end up with only 32-34 total degrees.