VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 12 volt Starter problems?

Did engine swap on my 1950 Styleline Deluxe. Pulled the 215 and put in a 1956, 235. Swapped the flywheel and bell housing. Now the starter seems "tight". When starting it seems as if it is binding. It will start, but the binding bothers me. It is converted to a 12 volt system (see 12 volt conversion gone haywire) and all new wires and a fuse box. Yes a real fuse box. I am using the original 6 volt starter. I know there are Chevy starter shims that I used in the 60s. I don't know if this would be an answer or not. I am open for suggestions.

PS: While I got "down time", I'm putting new "stuff" in the front end. She was getting a bit sloppy.

I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT FLY WHEEL YOU USED. yOU CAN NOT USE A 12 VOLT 235 FLY WHEEL WITH A 6 VOLT STARTER.

Used the 215 flywheel, bell housing and starter.

There could be a couple of issues in play here.

One is the depth of engagement with the original flywheel on the newer engine. Your shim idea might help that.

The other is the “indexing” of the original flywheel on the crank flange. These engines stop in one of 3 positions. So the started drive gear always hits one of those 3 locations when the engine is started the next time. So the flywheel and started drive gear teeth “wear” to fit each other. You might want to determine the relation of the old flywheel to the starter on the new crank flange. You could be trying to push the worn starter drive gear teeth onto “newer” flywheel ring gear teeth.

I wonder if all the locating dowels between the bell housing and the block were still in place.

I've done several 235 swaps. I've always used the 216 flywheel, starter, and bell housing without any issues. Good luck on finding out where the binding is.