So as some of you may know I have a mercury motor in my 53 ford. It is running a 49-53 mercury flywheel. And I have heard that the flywheels are the same for ford and merc. And I’ve heard they are different. But at first when I was installing the flywheel someone on the H.A.M.B. told me that the flywheels are the same and everything for a ford will bolt up. Well it all did. Until my starter had to bolt up. So at first I had my auto starter converted to a manual. And it fits fine in the plate and aligns fine. But it doesn’t enagage. When the bendix is engaged the teeth on the flywheel and the teeth on the starter do not engage in one another. So do the fords and mercs really have a different flywheels? Or do they have a different starter? Or is it the plate that the starter bolts to that is the problem. But anyway it is a 52-53 ford od trans on a 52-53 ford cast bellhousing. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
It’s been awhile but I think it has to do with the length of the shaft...measure from the mounting flange to the flywheel and then measure the overall starter shaft length...that will be the place to start (no pun intended) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
It would be nice if you had an original "manual shift" starter to compare the Bendix drive with that of your converted "automatic" starter. What "the boss20" suggests makes sense.
Just looked at my old Hollander . Flywheels are the same 49-53 Ford and Merc. auto and standard Starters are different, and it appears the difference is the armature and drive. The case and fields are the same. Just a guess, but maybe the conversion you had done just change the drive to an auto but kept the same armature.
I'd check the plate the starter bolts to as well. Seems there are different ones, some flat and others angled, and that could effect the starters ability to engage the teeth on the flywheel. Didn't know that until I posted a shot of my bell housing and starter plate and someone pointed out to me I had the wrong plate for the bell housing I had.
The '49-'53 Ford and Merc flywheels are interchangeable, but not the same. Fords are drilled for Long pressure plates, Mercs are Borg&Beck. The manual starters are all the same with two bolts, but automatics are different with three mounting bolts, and possibly different shaft lengths as theboss20 pointed out. Starter plates are the same "rectangular shape" for regular production '51 and '52-'53 Mercurys and '52-'53 Ford cars. The one oddball angled plate is for the '49-'51 Ford car stamped-steel bell and would not fit the later cast iron bell housings.
So I have the plate, the nose cone of starter changed to fit the plate, and a different drive installed. The drive is smaller. But it has the same size gear on it. So if anyone knows. Is the armature longer or shorter for the manual. I do In fact have a shorter armature that came in a rebuild kit. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Oooooooh. I get it. I was a little confused before. But I just don’t understand what the has to do with the diameter of the starter gear. When it’s fully engaged the starter gear is in line with the flywheel. It’s just the gear is so small it doesn’t engage into the teeth on the starter Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
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