Mustang Tech

for the sack of being silly
did you remove the starter and see weather the engine would turn manually?

hope u didn't toss the original starter........may be back to original

Or could it be a finger from the pressure plate that has come off and done a rock and roll inside the bellhousing, opinions please....

Box needs to come out, flywheel needs facing and a balance( it wont hurt if the flywheel has a few miles on it and would be a good starting point for eliminating that shudder(vibration). As for scrape marks on the engine side of the fly wheel WTF?? Nothing should be rubbing on that side of the flywheel. Going by the piece of swarf you found, you WILL find some damage. To what part exactly I'm really not sure. Hope its the cheaper part.

Sorry Jacko, it appears your engine is dead and you'll need to purchase a 347 crate engine.

Ausjacko wrote:With Hybrid's mention of the flywheel, I remembered the reason why I thought the starter was stuffed- theat funny piece of metal.
Just retrieved it from outside and here it is.

It is pretty stiff metal and does not bend easily. I cleaned it up for the photo. My initial thought was that it has broken off the starter somewhere, been jammed between the starter and flywheel teeth (hence the shape) and fallen in the starter housing for me to find.



Appreciate the comments thus far.
Jacko

Is that part of the rear main seal... perhaps if you are not losing oil then it could be the top half? Although now that I think about it I'm not sure that those seals have a metal base to them...

hasn't dropped a valve has it, had an 302 that did it once, idling merrily away and then nothing wouldn't turn over but would turn backwards one revolution then forward one, all valve springs where in place bloody thing broke off just behind the head of the valve which then stuck into the piston at 90 deg

I would pull the motor & box as a unit. Takes an afternoon.

It is a small block so not exactly hard to do. Then split the box off the motor & fix the issue. If it is the flywheel area, then that is easy (going by the shrapnel you found indicates there is something going on in there). If it is internal on the engine (which I doubt), then it had to come out.

It is the easiest way to do it. "Long way" will end up the "short way". Don't fart around the edges when something (engine or box) has to come out anyway.

I'm still thinking it's part of a bearing cage. The first 3 waves look way too symmetrical for it to be randomly bent that way.
Although bearing cages often have loops where the balls sit. Hmm.

In any case... it's gotta come out, as Kerry has said.

Hybrid
I think this piece of metal has been caught between the teeth on the start and fly wheel, hence the uniform shape.

Ausjacko wrote:Hybrid
I think this piece of metal has been caught between the teeth on the start and fly wheel, hence the uniform shape.

Good call! The pressure's on now. Pull it apart we wanna know whats broke!!!

Hey Jacko, any news?

No, too busy at the other job.
Hope to get a start on it on Sunday. Got to head to Sydney on Friday.

Looks like the remains of a bearing cage !! Thrust bearing !!

632 cubic inch engines from summit are very good value at the moment , very very good........(even though I think your engine is fine & all problems lay behind it)