[vinny]

hello everybody hope everyone is good ,i am having a small problem would like opinions on i have 69 mercury cougar 351w block and the top starter motor bolt keeps working itself out and causing problems with starting tried to put a lock washer on it and it made it worse so i took the washer of. i was thinking about replacing that bolt any suggestions on this i noticed that the top bolt seems shorter than the bottom i was thinking they were supposed to be the same length? i noticed the bottom bolt is longer with a rubber spacer on the bolt itself to help with the seating process. i went to autozone to look for unversal starter motor bolts i only found gm bolts. does anyone have any suggestions where to go and find some new ones anyone had this problem and how did they fix. thanks in advance

 

[dmac]

I'm not sure if the bolts are the smae length but I think they are. What I question is the piece of rubber on the bolt. I dont think there should be any rubber on the bolt. Also you should check the threads in the hole thats giving you the trouble. Make sure there is nothing in the hole (broken off bolt). Make sure the threads are in good shape. You may need to remove the starter to be sure, thread the bolt in the hole with the starter off and see how it feels. If its loose and sloppy the hole is giving you the problem.

 

[towcat]

dmac is spot on, no rubber and the threads in the top hole is probably stripped out!

 

[smag60]

I had the same problem with a 68 302/C4 a few years ago. I had to install a heli-coil in the top hole to solve the problem.

 

[vinny]

I had the same problem with a 68 302/C4 a few years ago. I had to install a heli-coil in the top hole to solve the problem.

ok at first i was thinking may'be a need a new bell housing but maybe not what is a heli-coil how do they look and where can i get one thanks

 

[Art]

ok at first i was thinking may'be a need a new bell housing but maybe not what is a heli-coil how do they look and where can i get one thanks

Can't read the sentence but do you have a block plate between the block and the bell housing? The nose of the starter should fit snug in the block plate.

The starter bolts are 3/8" diameter x 1 1/4" long. OEM starter bolts had a smaller hex than would commonly come on a 3/8" bolt. 1/2" hex Vs. 9/16" hex.

 

[Harvey]

Heli coils can be bought at any auto parts or hardware. They look like a coil of wire (that what they are) They screw into the threads and provide good threads to put a bolt into. Normally you use a tap and create a known size and then screw the heli coil in which takes it back to the right size and then thread in the bolt. You only need to do this if the threads are stripped out.

 

[Cedar Rapids Ia]

You don't think that someone else may have slipped a metric bolt in there...do you? I forget which will go into what...it's either a metric will go in a standard hole and will be a little loose, or the other way around...just saying.....

 

[dmac]

The starter holes are 3/8th and the closest metric would be a 10mm which is slightly bigger. You could probably force it in but it would be tight. the smaller 8mm-well is alot smaller and you can visably see the difference.