Cracked Starter Housing and Bell Housing

[v80z]

New some help if anyone has ever done this to see if I am going in the right direction

 

My side drafts never leaked into my L motor.

 

Here is a new one for me.

 

I started and ran the new sbc 350 several times about 3 week prior. I did not put stabil in the fuel. Today after rewiring and making sure everything was clear and tight I attempted to start the engine.

 

A mechanical clink followed by a high pitched grinding sound followed by what appeared to be a 409 bottle spraying raw fuel up out of the carb.

 

I suspect the fuel in the carb bowls filled one of the cylinders causing a hydraulic lock?

 

I remove all the plugs and turned it over again. Engine upper and lower seems to move with starter just fine.

 

Still a high pitch whine.

 

I looked below and this is what I found

 

http://jemofvausa.no-ip.org/v80z/crack1.jpg

http://jemofvausa.no-ip.org/v80z/crack2.jpg

 

The body of the starter is cracked and there is a small crack in the bell housing of the tranny. Not so worried about either. I will leave the bell housing and replace the $30.00 starter. But I would like to know the cause.

 

This SCB stuff is all new to me so any help would be aprreciated

[jt1]

It's almost impossible for an eddy to leak fuel into the engine unless the carb body is cracked, an if it did I doubt there would be enough for a lock to occur. Most likely the engine kicked back and broke the starter. Too much initial timing, crossed plug wires, or bad plug wires crossfiring can be the cause. The starter may have been loose, this makes it much more likely to break in case of a kickback. Check the threads in the block carefully when you replace the starter.

 

jt

[v80z]

Thanks

 

That sounds good. I will trun the timing back and check the threads. I guess I need to make sure that it does tighten up snug. Has this ever happened to you.

 

Wires are new

It was in the same wire config as when it was running last.

So it must be the timing.

 

Any other ideas?

[jt1]

Mine did the same thing a few months ago. Broke the starter into three pieces and bent the shaft. Luckily it didn't hurt the bellhousing, but it jerked a few of the threads out of the block. I think it's a combo of too high timing and the starter being a little loose that breaks the starter. For some unknown reason my dist. will creep up timing if I don't have the crap tightened out of the holdown, and I hadn't checked it lately. It cost me, I was using one of the small high torque starters off an 86 IROC, $265. They wouldn't take my multipiece one as a core.

 

jt

[280zwitha383]

I was using one of the small high torque starters off an 86 IROC, $265. They wouldn't take my multipiece one as a core. jt

 

Jerks!

 

I know a guy who keeps cracking his starters. I have always assumed that it is because he doesn't have it shimmed properly because he's always talking about how it will spin freely sometimes and sound like it's dragging at other times. He has tried shimming the starter but he won't ever use the rod that they give you to clearance the thing . As for the fuel coming out of the carb, are you running an electric fuel pump?

[v80z]

yes holley red fuel pump 5 psi.