So...this evening..it was time to fire up the ol' hotrod for the first time. Before turning the ignition on..I cranked the engine over a few times to confirm oil pressure was building--it was and cranked over nicely and quietly. Flip the ignition on...give her a few cranks sputtered and the engine kicked back while cranking ripping a 1" long section of teeth right off the flexplate!!! Talking about being ticked off!!! Engine is a BBC 454 w/th350 tranny. Initial timing set to 10*BTDC The flexplate was brand new (Summit racing SFI approved). It was installed properly The starter was brand new (3HP Chinese Mini starter). It was shimmed/clearanced poperly I can't even explain the pain in the ass it is to yank the tranny to replace the flexplate!! Did I just have a crappy Flexplate?? The starters teeth are just fine..just ripped off the flexplates ones!!! Had a good mesh with just cranking prior to trying to fire it. Any help/suggestions appreciated! I don't want to go thru this again!! Thanks!
Starter is one of those PROCOMP ELECTRONICS 3HP mini starters. With the starter bolted to the block w/o any shims, I had 75% of the bendix gear meshed into the flywheel teeth.
i've got the same setup on my 468 bbc and no shims. i thought maybe it was binding on release . it's got me thinking warped flexplate maybe.
Flexplate was a "SUMMIT RACING" brand...nothing on the box at all other than Summits part number...my guess..CHINA!
Those kickbacks will get you. I had a started shatter the nose cone on the first crank once. Probably a bum flexplate. Call summit and get it replaced. Hey, look at this way- you know your chinese starter is good!
This starter issue reminds me of the stories of kicking over old Harleys, or the dangers of the old crank start cars. My guess is something in the starter motor wasn't releasing. I know this may not help, but just a random thought.
Agreed, or a wire is wrong. And how can you know it was 10 degees advanced if you have'nt had it running and actually put a light on it? I usually try to point the rotor right at the plug wire at TDC and then turn it just a bit in the advanced direction. Never had a backfire.
Id call summit. If its not been longer then 3 months they should exchange it. Since it practically grenaded they might exchange it anyways.
this might sound crazy but, if you shim under just the OUTSIDE bolt this will kick the starter drive closer to the flexplate and help save the teeth.
Say, Brother..........doesn't it do the same, if you shim them both???? Drops the starter, towards a larger diameter section of the flexplate???? Just askin', 'cause I don't own some Chevy action.....................
after you take it off see if it was out of spec. if you can. it might have been slightly out of round in one area..or the center hole was not dead center. causing your starter to bind in one area of the ring gear. without saying anything..call summit and ask them the origin of that part first.. and do your own investigative work. if you find it to be sub standard..i wouldnt back down
Shimming both moves it away from the flywheel. Shimming just the outside bolt tilts it towards the flywheel. That said, I don't think that's the problem here. With Chevys when the engines kicks back it's very common to break a starter nose off. In this case it got the flywheel instead. s that Chinese starter the type that has no nose ?
In the past whenever I needed to fire up an engine..I've removed the plugs..rotated the engine clockwise with a ratchet on the balancer bolt, kept my finger on the #1 cylinders plug hole...when I felt air pressure on my finger..watched the balancer and placed the timing marks 8-10* BTDC...see where the rotor is pointing and that become the #1 plug wire location and put on the rest of the wires on from there...Never had a problem before! I'm about ready to go to NAPA get a new flywheel and a New starter and try this again!! The engine is stock except for intake, headers, carb....no internal mods done..it was a great running 454 when pulled to be used in the hotrod.
you said "It was shimmed/clearanced poperly" on the starter install... hot rod linkin asks "was it shimmed?" you said "With the starter bolted to the block w/o any shims, I had 75% of the bendix gear meshed into the flywheel teeth." so I still assume you do have it shimmed. a little fuzzy to figure out by what's been said so far. at least double check the gear mesh before you pull the flexplate, look the starter gear over too. FWIT. w/o going into your motor specs...your initial timing sounds right for about anything, but it sounds like timing to me. said you cranked over before start up that tells you something about starter on right. Right? with the kick back sounds like your plate was crap. so perhaps to things timing off, crappy plate. good luck.
since this was initial start up I doubt my thoughts will apply.. but check first.. I have had the bolts on these high torque mini starters loosen (over the course of years) every year when I "nut and bolt" the car I check them and have found them loose from time to time.. perhaps your bolts weren't torqued correctly???
it is good to see that i'm not the only one that gets ticked off WHEN PEOPLE DON'T READ THE THREAD BEFORE POSTING! have you checked to see if the starter is sitting flat on the block? i have had some starters that have needed some grinding so they clear the block.if all that is good my next thing would be to check the firing order. i have been excited about getting a motor started and mix up some wires before. if that checks out correct, drive to summit and sling that junk flex plate through their window. -danny
So there are a lot of good ideas here. But I'm going to suggest something that you will not appreciate and is probably closer to the truth than anything else mentioned. Stuff happens man. Once in a blue moon something just doesn't work right. This was your time. Pull the tranny and ship the flexplate back to Summit. Replace it and your good. Well you might make sure that you don't have a tunning issue. But that is a given if it coughed and kicked back.
Never checked to see if it was flat...It bolted right up, great mesh...thought I was done! looking at the stripped teeth this morning.... the teeth that broke off the flexplate "broke" off! Ring gear seems to be some "cast" type material...the broken section of the flexplate looks pourus!!!
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