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Mercruiser starter hell

fastjeff

fastjeff

Gold Medal Contributor
A simply job, really: just replace the starter on my 1986 305 Mercruiser that was showing its age. However...

The rear bolt holding the little darling on refused to be removed. It wasn't that I couldn't turn it (though I snappd an open end wrench trying) it was that I could not get a socket on the little b*st*rd!

Between the starter and the bell housing is a fiberglass shield that protects to flywheel. For some fool reason it decided to become obese and expand to the point I could not slip a socket over the end of the bolt. And brother, did I try!

I eventually went at it with a whiz wheel, grinding the f-glass away (along with part of the bolt), and a 9/16 socket later the fool thing was off.

Sheesh!

Jeff
 
Between the starter and the bell housing is a fiberglass shield that protects to flywheel.
Click to expand...

Ayuh,..... I've found those dust shields made outa steel, or plastic,.....

Over the years, I've taken 'em off, 'n tossed 'em, or cut the offendin' finger off 'em, 'n put 'em back on,.....

I usually toss 'em, so they won't hold water in the flywheel cover, if the bilge water level gets too high,.....

'bout 5 or 6 years ago, Merc started sellin' new starter bolts with extended 1/2" heads, rather than the usual 9/16ths" heads,.....
 
fastjeff said:
A simply job, really: just replace the starter on my 1986 305 Mercruiser that was showing its age. However...

The rear bolt holding the little darling on refused to be removed. It wasn't that I couldn't turn it (though I snappd an open end wrench trying) it was that I could not get a socket on the little b*st*rd!

Between the starter and the bell housing is a fiberglass shield that protects to flywheel. For some fool reason it decided to become obese and expand to the point I could not slip a socket over the end of the bolt. And brother, did I try!

I eventually went at it with a whiz wheel, grinding the f-glass away (along with part of the bolt), and a 9/16 socket later the fool thing was off.

Sheesh!

Jeff
Click to expand...


A chrome 6 point 9/16 is your friend on this one. Preferably a 1/2 drive.....
 
But only if you can slip the little darling onto the bolt head. And, yes, mine are the extended head bolts!

I've also learned that the new starter requires "conversion bolts" since it's designed for the newer metric motors. The present bolt shank is 3/8 (.375") where the new starter uses 10 mm (.394 ") bolts. The conversion bolts have 10 mm shanks and 3/8 threads to properly position the starter. Mine works fine, but I'm gonna change the bolts out anyhow in the spring.

The list grows ever longer...

Jeff
 
My search for these 'magic' conversion bolts (10 mm body with 3/8 UNC threads) has so far turned up nothing! I'm sorely tempted to wrap the friggin' bolts I have with tape (to center them) and go with that.

Sheesh!

Jeff
 
That's no longer the problem--centering the starter is. Seeing I can't find any of these 'magic' conversion bolts, I'm going to wrap the ones I have with aluminum tape to make them fill up the hole (and locate the starter). Crude but effective.

Jeff
 
Yeah, but a really thin one to line the starter up

Gotta relate a store here... When I was in college, paying my way through, I 'rebuilt' GM starters that (at that time) had a bad habit of dragging like crazy when the motor was hot. All I did was replace the bushing on the Bendix end and away they went again! Got a box of bushings dirt cheap, so the cost to me was minimal.

The point I'm trying to make is that the mesh of those two gears (flywheel and starter) is critical for proper operation. The correct starter bolts for the operation have a raised portion above (or below, actually) the threads that centers the starter.

Jeff
 
..."Do you need. Some 10mm shank or shoulder bolts with 3/8 threads ?"

Yes! Hell to find them, though.

Jeff
 
Take a stainless steel hose clamp and cut it down, wrap it on your bolts and see if that will work....

By the way, didnt the new starter come with bolts?
 
If it's that complex, turn sleeve in lathe (2) press in offset block of starter, and bore on milling machine? For the .375 ur talking. .o19 rite
 
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