MAXIMUS Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Hi. I'm haveing a heck of time trying to get a fricken starter to fit my 400sbc. The holes are offset. No big deal,but: when I find a starter that has the offset holes,the holes are off by 1/2 inch. Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Are you using a 153 tooth flywheel? Starters for 400's with staggered holes are usually for the 168 tooth flywheel and are plentiful. Your choices are much fewer for the 153. Check out this thread, where I link to a CSI starter I bought for my latest engine build: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=117759 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonZ Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Are you using a 153 tooth flywheel? If you are, you need a starter with the other bolt pattern (straight across). I don't think the 400 block was drilled with both patterns. I ran into this same problem building my last engine and a member here told me about a CSR starter that comes with an adapter for use on a 400 block with the smaller flywheel. Part # CSR-100-SBP is what you will need. Price is around $250. I have run this starter on my 383 for about 4 months now, working great. ha nullbound beat me to the punch! Thanks for the heads up on the starter Ryan, it works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 ha nullbound beat me to the punch! Thanks for the heads up on the starter Ryan, it works great. That's pretty funny how close our responses were! Glad that starter is working out for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS Posted April 11, 2007 Author Share Posted April 11, 2007 Its definitely a 400 sbc. The holes are offset. But when I put in the starter in,the holes dont line up. I need the starter holes to be about half in horizontally out more. does anyone know where I can get a starter that fits? I could drill another hole into the block,straight across,but was advized not to. only as a last resort. Anyone have a part # ? Thanks guys,your all a great help!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ansel Marrow Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I just went through this rigomorale. Finally realized I had a 153 tooth flywheel. Whats really rich is the tech guy at summit said my flexplate was on backwards. Said I had to remove the tranny and flip it around. The car started just fine when I removed the old bulky starter (lesson here: dont throw out parts!). So my 153 tooth starter is on the way, I hope you figure out what type to get. Theres a page I link to that may help. Maybe you might want to try a universal starter? http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=757834#post757834 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS Posted April 14, 2007 Author Share Posted April 14, 2007 Think I'm gonna have to drill and tap a new hole in the block to fit a starter in this thing. Anyone wanna tell me what I should be careful of,or how to do it.? Thanks,MAXIMUS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ansel Marrow Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 I belive there was a thread on this here, just do some research and find the right starter. Tapping the engine block requires removing the engine, and having the mounts and alligment hardware lined up perfectly. Its not reccomended. Ill find the thread if I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonZ Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 Think hard about what you are about to do. You will have to be extreamly accurate on the location of the new hole. It's not as simple as it might sound. I don't know your background however I have been a machineist for around 15 years so I know a bit about what I am saying. You will need to build a drill fixture that will refference off of the original bolt holes. The fixture would need to have removeable drill bushings to guide the tap drill, counter bore and tap. I am not trying to tell you that it can't be done, I just feel that finding the proper starter will present fewer problems. Think about it, if you are off by just a bit your starter will not align properly causing increased wear on the starter, ring gear, or both. There are only really 2 styles of Chevy starters to choose from, staggered or straight bolt pattern. The staggered bolt pattern was used with 168 the tooth flywheel. Most auto trans equiped cars used this flywheel. I can't think of an application that used the 400 in front of a manual trans which is probably why the factory didn't drill the other (straight) bolt pattern in the block. Other engines were destined for both auto and manual trans applications and recieved both bolt patterns. The straight pattern was used with the 153 tooth flywheel. You never answered the question about which flywheel you are using. My guess is that it is 153 tooth. In this case The best bet is to use the CSR starter refrenced earlier in this thread. If it is a 168 tooth wheel, any staggered pattern starter will work. Sorry this post is so long, I would just hate to see you make a quick decision and risk destroying a good 400 block. I faced this same problem early this year and a few members here gave me some good advice (I was ready to drill my block before I posted a question about it) just trying to return the favor. Good luck, hope everything turns out well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 Thanks for the reply Jason. The motor is a 400 sbc and has a 168 tooth flywheel. The bolt pattern is staggered on the block. I have a staggered starter but the problem is this: when I fit the starter into position,the holes from the starter do not line up. The holes in the block are off by about 1/2 inch to the right of the starter. I can get a pic if u guys think it might help in solving this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonZ Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 pics are always helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.