Interference Troubleshooting

Before the calendar flips for the final time this year, I really wanted to identify what caused the starter/ manual steering box interference.  So, yesterday I braved a sore back and frigid concrete floors to crawl around under the car to take measurements and seek answers.

I discovered some small things that by themselves wouldn’t have been an issue, but add them together and they were enough to cause at least some of my problem.

First, I had been concerned that the right and left spool mounts were swapped and in some way caused the problem, but I verified they were in the right place, and was able to eliminate that idea.

Then I found one of my mistakes. When I welded the spool brackets into the stock location, because of the large diameter crank pulley on the ’66 engine, I intentionally raised them about 3/8” to provide more clearance between the cross-member and the outer sheave, so the belts would fit. That was a bad decision. Without parts to actually fit check, my guess was an unnecessary mistake, especially when I decided to change pulleys to a later style with fewer sheaves, which would have allowed plenty of clearance without raising the mounts. I could now lower the engine nose about the same distance as I raised it, but would have to that by deepening the mount slots, as re-welding the brackets would be impossible without pulling the engine.

Next, I measured the mount bracket slot locations compared to the stock mount dimensions. Since I did not have stock ’56 mounts to compare, I again relied on measurements, and though their relative spacing was right on, they were both shifted 1/4” toward the driver’s side. I had now found two mistakes that contribute to my problem.

Had I known what clearance issues I might have run into, since I made a custom transmission cross-member, I could have shifted the engine and transmission rearward as much as a half-inch without affecting any other fit problems. That would have taken advantage of the curvature of the starter housing if I had used the stock starter. As usual, hindsight is always 20-20.

These are the only things I’ve found so far, but will check more when the weather improves, or I turn on the heat.

By using a different washer buildup in the spools, I can gain about 1/8” of rearward movement, but that won’t help much, and while I could still shift the engine back a half-inch, it would require moving the shifter bracket on the driveshaft hump, and the shifter pivot shaft. That would be a royal pain, as I’d have to cut welds and then build a new console top plate to accept the revised shifter location.

I have yet to remove the spool bolts, and I’ll do that to see if the slots can be ground out to lower and shift the bolts enough to help without creating other problems

One thing I did find interesting. The big, heavy, stock starter motor provides 1/8” more clearance than the mini-starter, so I’ll probably have it rebuilt and use it. I do sort of miss the unique Mopar starter sound on my truck and Valiant that now carry mini-starters.

A quick fix isn’t obvious, so I'll try the easier things first, but that will have to be put off until next year.

Happy New Year!