I have a 1963 Galaxie with a 352 Fe that I'm swapping the engine out on for a much healthier 352 with a cam and some other goodies... but have a question regarding the starter and flexplate... Currently I have the old bendix style starter and a 153 tooth flywheel... i tried searching but nobody can seem to give a definite answer... in 1965 they went to a 184 tooth flexplate and a more modern starter that was used on almost every ford product for the next 20 years. The '65 Galaxies and thunderbirds were still using the cruise-o-matic tranny, since the c6 didnt come out until '66, so could I use a '65 FE flex plate and upgrade to the more available starter while using my existing cruise-o-matic? Anybody done this?
I can't give you a definite answer, but the bell housing from the later FMX (cruiso) may be different due to the new style starter. What reason do you have to swap the old flex and starter. If they are still good, then just use them, unless of course you can verify no differences.
my old starter still works just fine, but im just thinking for parts availability that it would be nice to be able to walk into any parts store in a pinch and they would have it on the shelf, unlike the old bendix unit... and if I already were to have the engine out, that would be the time to do it...
looks like when I look at the 65 cuise-o-matic and FMX bell housings for the FE, they seem to still have the same design and the deep well for the rear engauge starter drive that was on the bendix starter, so I dont think they ever did redesign the bell housing... Does anyone know if there was a block plate between the FE and FMX's? I know there was on the FE when mated to the C6...
If what you want to do is use a late model starter with the old flywheel, you can get a Bendix drive from Marc"s One in Phoenix part #8800 that you can put on your late model starter that has the proper teeth number to mesh with the old flywheel. I think its actually a tractor part but works on the FE. Its what I had in my old 64 Galaxie that had a 74 390 and the original Cruiso in it. The old starter worked but made a horrible noise and it was obvious that it wasn't going to last long so I bought the new Bendix and it was quiet and worked flawlessly.
My understanding is old starter with old flywheel new starter with new flywheel. The PO of my Galaxie butchered a hole in a later style Lakewood scatershield to clear the old style long starter end it bolted up and worked but looked like shit.
Don, am I following you correct on this. Order a new starter but replace the gear on the starter out with this tractor part to adapt to the old teeth style flex plate?
Yes, I did this on my 64 Galaxie 390. I had the late model starter but the teeth didn't match the old 64 flywheel. So I found out on another web site(I forgot which) that you can use the Bendix made for a tractor on the starter and you will have the appropriate teeth mesh for the setup.
You can use a 65 flexplate and starter and use the 64 and older bell . its a 3 bolt starter and works perfect.
I should have checked back here before running to the parts store. I was able to track down the original part number for the flex plate which I believe is: C5AZ-6375-D. I found it available here: https://www.npdlink.com/product/flexplate-auto-transmission-replacement-184-tooth-145-inch/105320 I took that part number to the parts store and they cross referenced it to a flex plate they had available. My concern is that this one is going to have a 15.5 inch OD and I think it needs to be 14.5 inches if that part number is right. They also had a compatible starter. I got everything for like 100 bucks and will be picking it up today and swapping it out Friday, fingers crossed! Here's what my current setup looks like.
The Jalopy Journal
