[vinny]

has anyone ever done this was driving the cougar on saturday and i felt a little giddy so i put tranny in first gear at 30mph and punched it the front picked up of ground and i heard a noise when i pulled over and looked under the starter was sitting on the floor and the ears that hold the starter motor bolt to the bell housing .. you know the ones that the bolts go through one of them had snapped off the guy at autoparts store said this was normal for those starters cuz they are so heavy but i think it had a little to do with the torque by the motor cuz that is right when it happened any thoughts on my theory

 

[Bad69cat]

Unless it is hitting on the frame somehow --You need the shim plate for your starter! Ouchie....there are 2 starters to the best of my knowlege (long nose/short nose) but sometimes you need the shim plate (available at most auto parts stores) to space it out on some applications to clear the flexplate. Sounds like you will want to take a real close look at your flexplate to be shure it didn't get to tore up - the ring gears on those are kinda fragile and I bet you smacked it pretty good if it broke the starter like that. Be sure you don't have a broken motor mount.

 

[vinny]

Unless it is hitting on the frame somehow --You need the shim plate for your starter! Ouchie....there are 2 starters to the best of my knowlege (long nose/short nose) but sometimes you need the shim plate (available at most auto parts stores) to space it out on some applications to clear the flexplate. Sounds like you will want to take a real close look at your flexplate to be shure it didn't get to tore up - the ring gears on those are kinda fragile and I bet you smacked it pretty good if it broke the starter like that. Be sure you don't have a broken motor mount.

i dont think it had anything to do with flex plate the two ears that the bolts go through to bell housing one of the snapped maybe heat fracture or something i dont see how a shim plate would help me here also it starts fine with new starter... once again it did not break when i was trying to start but rather when i was in motion driving

 

[dmac]

Maybe you should keep your "ears" away from the starter

 

[Bad69cat]

there isn't anything that could hit the starter but the flexplate Vinny..? If it's riding to close....they could quite easily collide while driving if the plate is warped/bent etc. Is there a chance that during your "spirited" driving the key coulda got bumped to start position..? I could see that causing a problem! I've never heard of a starter just snapping off like that under normal conditions. Is there any chance the car could have gotten jacked up by the starter at some point? (just another thought)