8BA Starter

RalphG

RalphG

Well-known member
How to remove? I've decided to try taking the starter off and can't seem to find mounting bolts under the thick and solid layer of oil soaked dirt from the past 66 years. Pretty sure it is not the two long bolts that go right through the starter. Pictures in my catalogue do not give any help for details. Guess I need to do some more dirt scraping to find these bolts. This is on the 49 Mercury M68 truck.
 
Yes indeedy, I do believe that those long bolts screw into the bellhousing and hold the starter in place. Plus, there is a little bracket bolted to the starter and an oil pan bolt that supports the rear end of the starter.
 
It's the 2 long bolts. Don't remove them from the starter as they hold it together. Also don't drop it on you. It's heavy.

Les
 
ditto on the 2 long bolts and heavy. and the starter drive likes to hang up on the bell housing plate causing the starter to fall apart. have to hold your tongue just right while holding a 15 pound starter.
 
Thanks all. Sounds like fun. Especially laying under the truck on a piece of cardboard in the snow at 20 degrees.
 
Just had my starter out recently yes it is heavy & the starter drive did hang up
it only needed a fiber spacer everything else was ok old time guy has a shop under
his house the cost $5.00 cant beat that
 
when you do get it out, it's a good idea to put a nut on each long bolt so the starter doesn't fall apart on you when you are moving it around.
 
When you go to replace the starter, remove the nuts that you used to hold it together and get a couple of pieces of wire (like electric fence wire) and wrap three turns of so on the threads. Leave a few inches of wire hanging down from the threads. After getting the threads started into the housing use pliers and pull the wire off the threads. Also if you have the front of the car jacked up off the ground turn the steering arms so they are under the starter to help hold the heavy thing if you get tired.......Good Luck
 
JT FORD said:
When you go to replace the starter, remove the nuts that you used to hold it together and get a couple of pieces of wire (like electric fence wire) and wrap three turns of so on the threads. Leave a few inches of wire hanging down from the threads. After getting the threads started into the housing use pliers and pull the wire off the threads. Also if you have the front of the car jacked up off the ground turn the steering arms so they are under the starter to help hold the heavy thing if you get tired.......Good Luck
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That sounds like a good idea to try. This is the M68 truck so it is high enough I can lay underneath it without jacking the truck up. I just want to get the starter off so I can get in with a pry bar on the ring gear and try to free up the engine. So far my other attempts have not broke it loose.
 
Ralph,

Have you tried putting the truck in gear and rocking it back and forth to free the engine? After some good doses of Marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and down the intake?
 
CSArno said:
Ralph,

Have you tried putting the truck in gear and rocking it back and forth to free the engine? After some good doses of Marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and down the intake?
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X2...I think I'd hold off on the pry bar on the ring gear.
 
Had a rear wheel jacked up and rocked it back and forth with a wheel wrench in gear. Probably loosened up everything except the engine. I've poured the usual stuff down the carb and in spark plug holes to soak but so far no results. Diesel fuel, penetrating oil, varsol, so far no results. Got the fan and gen off and a big wrench on the crank pulley but no results there either. I though I'd get more leverage in both directions if I can get a pry bar on the ring gear.
 
If the engine is that tight you are going to damage something prying on it!! Need to find the issue, not apply more force. There could be something in a cylinder (mice nest, etc), lots of possibilities.
 
Stuck valves and corroded cylinders can both lock an engine up. I wouldn't take any chances on pull starting until I knew all the valves were free. I've seen cams busted and holes poked into cam followers due to this. Pulling the heads & intake costs you some clean up work and a few gaskets but it will damn sure let you know whats going on in there. As was mentioned before, mice love these old engines and they can get in through the exhaust or the intake if a valve is open far enough. On 8BA engines, they come right up the crankcase vent pipe and make a home in the follower valley.
 
What are the chances on re-using the head and manifold gaskets if I do get it apart and unstuck?
I never touched the truck today. Busy playing with the one that runs. :)
 

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RalphG said:
What are the chances on re-using the head and manifold gaskets if I do get it apart and unstuck?
I never touched the truck today. Busy playing with the one that runs. :)
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Very little to none if it has been together for a long time.
 
Ralph,

i just went through on my 8BA what you are going through. i hoped for the best and expected the worst. My engine was stuck petty good. after soakings with MMO and rocking it back and forth and bumping the starter, it finally broke loose. then i had a bunch of valves stuck. was able to free the valves without taking the heads off and actually had it running pretty good but it had very low compression on a couple of cylinders. zero on #3. My engine is now being rebuilt. had a bunch of broken rings and a hole down the side of #3 piston.
if you want to take some time, be patient and keep soaking it with oil and rocking it. a pipe wrench will just booger up your crank pulley.. if you get it to spin over, do a compression check to see which cylinders have stuck valves or other issues. you can see one of the valves really good through the spark plug hole. check to make sure all those are closing. if they arent, use a hard wood dowel and tap on them gently to see if they will close. just have to make sure the valve is supposed to be closed when tapping on it (ie: compression stroke) if you get them all to close and still have no compression, put a tablespoon or so of motor oil in the cylinder and recheck compression. also known as the "wet test" if the compression comes up a little, you probably have stuck/broken rings or a hole down the side of a piston. if it doesnt come up all, then you still have a valve problem or a big hole in a piston.
you can just see the edge of the other valve through the plug hole with a flashlight to see if it is closing. i had a few of these stuck open and was able to stick the short end of an allen wrench it the plug hole, turn it so its on top of the stuck valve and tap on the long end to get the valve to close.
Rodents can get in that vent pipe on the front of the intake pretty easy and fill it full of anything you can imagine. It would be good to at least pull the intake manifold to check. pulling the heads can be alot of work if you have some stubborn bolts. an air impact wrench with the pressure turned down so it just rattles works pretty good. work the bolt in and out once it starts to turn and it should come. if you have some that just wont start, one trick is to drain the coolant, plug the holes on the water pumps and fill the entire engine water jacket with some kind of penetrating oil, diesel fuel, etc. the reason for this is all but 3 head bolts on each side goes through the block and in to the water jacket thus soaking the threads of the headbolt from the inside to help free it.

hope some of this helps on where you go from here.
good luck,
Chris
 
Hi Chris. I dealt with stuck valves last year on the other two flatheads and got lucky unsticking them and getting back to compression on all 8. Using methods similar to what you describe. This old truck has been sitting longer I think,about 40 years since it ran. The engine was tired even back then so likely low compression. I might just pull the heads and manifold . Not much to lose as it certainly won't run as is. If it looks worth saving when I get it apart I guess new gaskets are available.
 
39topless said:
How about wiring the starter to run backwards?
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Would it even engage???

Ralph, if its been sitting that long, probably a good idea to pull the intake and heads.. Absolutely the gaskets are still available. Pull the intake first and see if you want to go further. Might be 40 years worth of mouse nests in there jamming things up. When I mentioned rocking the truck in gear, I had the tires on the floor and rocked it using the weight of the truck to free it.

Chris
 
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