I saw some old postings on this, where people would try some things, but didn't see the result. I bought a new standard starter locally for my 351C in the Longchamp, supposedly for an automatic. It spins the engine much better than the old one, but it has a nasty though not too loud metallic scraping sound and it stays engaged for a few seconds. I've tried moving it as much as I could (not a lot) away from the engine, no change I think.
Some suggest that I elongate holes and trim the plate, I can do that with some trial and error, but since I have to remove part of the shroud and lift the engine to get it out, that doesn't sound too tempting.
Did I get the right starter? The parts pusher said there were 2, one for manual one for automatic, but some forum postings quote 3 different tooth counts. I did change the C6 trans a year ago but kept the flywheel.
Any ideas?
(The part# on my invoice is USA3124. The stamping on the starter I took off the Longchamp is "Motorcraft 12V USA3 D2AF-11001-DA 3L13C". I bought a starter for my Pantera (manual gear of course) 2 years ago, always worked fine, that has part# MID3132)
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