Just one of those days......starter failure...

[BattlestarGalactic]

Well, with the weather taking a serious turn for the worst early on I wanted to get the wagon put away.  So, since it was a nice clear evening I got home and went about my car swapping exercise.  Get Mack out, hook up to trailer.  Move black car out of garage, unload wagon and swap them around and then put everything back away. 

Sounds easy enough?  Ya, well, not this time.

With age, I can't push the wagon up the "hill" by myself to get it to roll out of the trailer(driveway has slight slope).  So I unhook everything, turn on battery, crawl through back and get in start it up and back it out of the trailer.   I make sure everything is unhooked, turned on battery, crawled up and hit the starter button to make sure it would crank.  Yup.  Okay, crawl over roll bar and get seated.  Hit button and I get like 1 second of crank and then just click.  UGH.  Try a few times, nothing but click.  Dammit.  Crawl back out and investigate.   

With no help around, I get the old Cub cadet tractor out and hook to back of car and use it to pull the car up over the threshold to get it to roll out.  I then try the big battery charger, nope, just click.   I try two other batteries, still just a click.  Dammit, it's the starter.  I get the jack out and lift the nose enough to slide under and drop the starter(luckily it's doable without dropping headers or anything).  I grab the worn out one I keep in the trailer for that "emergency use".   Install and hit the button and Viola' it cranks.  Kinda slow, but it is only like 40* out.

I get it started, swap things around, put everything back away and then finally get to have dinner(an hour later then planned).

Guess it's time to step up to a better starter(something non Autozone related).  It has cranked that new "bigger" motor okay, but I knew I was going to have to upgrade at some point.  Sure would have been nice to not have to fix it in the gravel driveway??  Oh well.  I spoke to my sponsor at dinner(Karen) and she's going to get me a nice Xmas gift!!!       

Sure is nice to have a girl that is "all in" with drag racing.  She demands to help support my bad habits.  I know too many racers who's other half wants nothing to do with racing.  She is a keeper.   

[fairlaniac]

Days like that suck but it sure is nice to have your lady there for you.

[64PI]

I put a Powermaster in my Galaxie after going through a few factory starters. Nice and light and compact. I don't have to drop the Idler arm or any of the header tubes. I just got done playing the car shuffle in my shop last night. The weather in Upstate NY is getting ready to take a turn.

[6667fan]

During the work day I'm planning what I hope to get done after I get home. Yesterday the plan was to do some work in the shop to make room for pulling the engine out of the Fairlane.
First lets clean up this mess in the laundry sink where the wife left some hummingbird feeders soaking. The sink has a sump pump in a five gallon pail that empties into a former laundry machine outflow. Hmm, that pump sounds off, won't stop running after pail is empty, through some more water down the drain, now there is a burning smell, oh wait here comes water over the top side of the bucket! WTF? So, pump shit the bed, water all over the basement floor. Lost an hour cleaning the mess up and now the sink is out of commission until I replace the pump.
 Did get out to the shop eventually.
JB

[BattlestarGalactic]

With a few choices on starters, I'll have to pick one.  They all can go bad, and I'm going to get another AZ version to throw in the trailer for "what if days".  The junk one I had in the trailer was the one I took out a few years ago.   For as cheap as they are, I can deal with getting a few seasons out of them.  But, like I said, this new motor is a bit tougher on them so I'll spend the money(well, someone will LOL) for a gear reduction starter.

JB,  I have one of those sump pump sinks in the basement.  My only drain in the basement floor goes to sump.  The washer had to pump UP the wall to get to the sewer line.  I always had to do a double rinse cycle to get everything rinsed well enough in the washer.  I saw one of those pump sinks on This Old House.  Works well, but always in the back of my mind "what if" it goes out.  The worst case is it overflows and goes into the drain on the floor in front of the sink and gets pumped out to the street(oops, that's not allowed but oh well).

[Falcon67]

PMGR is the only way to go.  Haven't had a starter fail in years.  Personally don't care for overpriced Poweemaster stuff, but some like it.  I typically buy Summit brand PMGR units and have no issue.  Rob Mc makes one for the FE, worth the $$$

[GJCAT427]

Larry, My black Galaxie  went through a couple pf Napa starters before I got pissed enough to get one from Rob Mc. It went in with out issue and clocked fine to miss the factory headers. Only problem was it needed the shim for a complete engagement. Called rob on a Saturday and he got the sim right to me. Haven`t looked back at the starter since.

[BattlestarGalactic]

I know Summit reboxes a lot of stuff, so you many times you get a decent product at a much lower price then full retail from the original supplier.

I found the Summit version, $181.  Not bad.  I'll see what Rob wants for one.  A decision will be made, money will be spent LOL!

[jayb]

I like the RobbMc starter the best.  I've had reasonably good luck with the Powermasters, but if you look closely the gear on the Powermaster starters does not engage all the way into the flywheel teeth.  It only goes in 1/2 to 2/3 of the way, and I've had a flywheel ring gear or two wear out from that.  I have machined the front face of Powermaster starters to make them thinner, so that the gear engages more of the teeth; recently did that for another guy.  Also the Powermaster starters don't have the nose cone to support the end of the shaft, its just cantilevered out there.  Think 12 bolt Chev or Dana pinion gear vs. Ford 9" pinion gear.  Robb's starters are available with that nose cone support, they are expensive but worth the cost, IMO...

[6667fan]

I like Robb's fuel lines, filters, pumps but have not had good luck with his starters. I strove to pay attention to shimming and nose cone depth but wore out pinion teeth twice. I'm not ruling out an error on the part of the installer. Robb has very good customer service.

JB

[BattlestarGalactic]

I see Robb starter is $270, plus $30 for the nose cone.  I'd do that upgrade for sure, I kinda like that option compared to every other gear starter that doesn't have it.

I'll always have my back up Autozone starter in the trailer for the day something goes wrong with it.

[cjshaker]

After years and years of using OEM type starters without issue, I started having issues several years ago. I tried a couple of PowerMaster starters and the quality and longevity seemed to be hit and miss. During Drag Week 2016 (I think ), the last one I had started acting up and I was making Nascar pit stops for fuel the entire week, which was not fun. I had to shut the car off on the start line at Indy so they could clear the track, and getting it restarted almost didn't happen. Luckily, the line guy was patient with me and it finally took hold after about 30 seconds of trying, which seems like an hour when everyone is watching. I wasn't going through that again! I decided that the quality of rebuilds was crap compared to what they used to be, bought the RobbMc starter, with the nose cone support, and have not had an issue since.