alright guys, i have a '79 and lost the tranny in it a year ago. mike p-28 was kind enough to GIVE me a free tranny from a newer car, still a 1st gen, but not an early 1st gen, it might have been a 84? not sure. if mike is reading this he may remember.
when i got every thing back in place the starter didnt engage. so can i just get a newer starter (with hopefully a longer nose) and just be done with it.....or do i also need to get another flywheel? i just dropped the tranny, the original clutch/flywheel is still on. i thought about swapping bellhousings....but i'd rather not drop the tranny again.

spring is on the way...and my turbo is lonely....

thanks for any help,
chuck

 

The tranny I gave you was an 80 I beleive. Any 12A starter will work on it... As long as its from a manual..

 

huh.

are there different length starters/bellhousings? a local napa guy is into rx7's and looked up part numbers for me. not all starters are the same number for 1st gens, so i assumed i'd need a newer starter.


maybe the starter i had was modified? seems unlikely.
i know that it throws the gear out all the way, but it just wont hit the flywheel. the car is canadian if that matters. i even tried another starter of the same size, nothing changed.

now i'm really confused. i guess i'll have to take some measurements....

thanks,

chuck

 

I never really thought they were different, to tell the truth I have a 85 12A starter on my 88 vert I dont see why the bellhousings in 12a's would have been different I know a 85 12A engine will bolt up to a 80 tranny So why would they be different?

 

the bell housing on the S3 and i think S2 were a little different to the the S1, because of the deeper fly whell. but the cogs on the side of the fly whell are all in the same spot so im prety sure and starter motor would work..

 

When I brought home the GSLSE, the starter was fried on it. I stole the starter from the 79 and put it on there. No problems. When I bought a new starter, I bought the part number for the SE, but ended up putting it on the 79 because I didn't feel like pulling the one off of the 85. Again no problem. I never intermingled parts from my 1g's to my 2g's when I had them, but if it worked for Mike's vert, it should have worked for any of them.

 

sorry to beat this subject to death, but i'm going crazy here. well, not really.

the car was raced in SCCA in the past, and the clutch "appears" to be an aftermarket. not sure though. my thought is that maybe the flywheel/clutch were changed out, and are at a different position. this seems to be nonsense....who would sell a set up like this that requires a starter change?

again, the car is canadian, but that shouldnt matter right?

the other starter i tried was the exact same dimensions, and it didint engage either.

i'll have to take measurements of the bellhousings again ....i swear they were different.

thanks for all your replies....
chuck

 

there are 2 differnt starters on our cars one for 79-82 and one for 83-85. remember the flywheel change? different flywheel calls for a different starter. Although not much difference between them the gear that contacts the flywheel teeth is about 1/4-1/2" smaller on one then on the other.

peace

 

Well here is my $.02; about three weeks ago now I installed a GSL-SE 13b tranny into my 79. All it took was some chopping of the tranny tunnel but it worked. My 79 starter worked as well, slipped right in and still enguages the flywheel perfectly.

matt

 

Then I don't understand why I am able to swap starters between my 79 12A and my 85 13B without incident. I believe the difference between the flywheels has to do with the friction surface. 215mm diameter vs 225mm diameter? All I know for sure is that the starter for my 79 is on my 85 and working like a champ and the starter I bought for the 85 at Pep Boys bolted right into the 79 and worked right as well. S1 to S3 is about as far apart as you can get in 1st gens.

 

What does the "original" starter look like? Does it look like the ones youre trying to swap in? Does it have any part numbers on it? Are you sure youre wiring it all in right? Your making it so that the solenoid engages right? So its not like the starter is just spinning and the solenoid isnt moving it forward to engage?

~T.J.

 

i know I had a 85 strater on an 80, and a 85 starter on a 88 13b so who knows, i thought most were the same

 

I just went through this about a week ago... there IS a diffference in SA/FB starters... cars built from '79 'til 11/'82 had 9 tooth starters, cars built after that had 11 tooth starters. They will interchange, but you may experience some have some grinding from teeth not lining up right the first time. Also, the teeth on the starter will wear off quicker..

--Danny