New Starter for Old Blocks

[abelincoln]

My 48 V-12 starter died. It had been rebuilt by two shops and still wouldn't turn over the engine.  So I took it out and put a couple of nuts on the through bolts to run with jumper cables.  With no load, it turned slowly and began to smoke,  I tried to find a new armature to use with a Ford starter, the Lincoln unit being about 1/2 inch longer that the Ford armature due to something called a "flexible flywheel".  Not much luck there, but I came across a Powermaster model 9507 that shoves the gear into the flywheel from the front like a modern starter rather than pulls in from the back side like old Fords and Lincolns.  12-Volt supply is required.  There is only about 1/16 inch clearance between the gear and the flywheel, but I discovered the mounting plate on the pan was warped on the bottom side.  So I squeezed the mounting plate as far as I could and tacked to the pan, then used a 5/16 washer on the high side to mount the starter.  This moved the starter a bit toward the front and provided some additional clearance.  Bonus, don't have to use the flaky support to the oil pan mounting bolt.  Its a gear reduction starter, so it  with turns the considerable authority.  Coming soon an attempt to start engine.

Pic.tures show old and new, and starter in car.  Note Reds header and Moroso dip stick.

[Lee H]

Do you plan to eliminate the original starter solenoid?

[abelincoln]

The stock solenoid relay is a convenient place to make other connections to accessories, so I've left in place.  Could extend the start wire to the new starter though.  I did have to put a jumper wire on the starter.

[Lee H]

Probably doesn’t introduce enough extra resistance to make it worth the bother, but you could keep the original in place, and just move the starter cable to the battery side. You’d obviously still have to run the starter button wire to the new solenoid, though.