1988 Ford Ranger V8

[cooldude48818]

I have a 88 ford ranger with the 302 V8 in it. The guy that built the truck said that the motor, trans and drive shaft came from a 1978 Ford Mustang. The numbers that are above the starter read as follows: D8OE-6015-E3A. The starter is out of it so I went and got one for a 78 mustang and it worked for about 10 starts and then is shattered the starter teeth. The flywheel looks fine but I can't figure it out. I need help trying to choose the correct starter. Its a T5 trans as far as I know.

 

[Explorin94]

The T-5 came out in late 83 model year for the mustangs and continued through 93. Later versions are close but are made by Tremec not Borg and Warner. Look for a tag on the back part of the transmission where the tailhousing bolts to the body of the transmission. 9 times out of 10 the bell housing stays with the trans when they are swapped over. See what that has as you may need a starter for that year.

 

[Mac]

Well, don't know why that year starter wouldn't work. The trans should be a four speed,
RAD (Borg Warner) 4 Speed Standard Transmission and the smallest SBF bellhousing using the 147 tooth flywheel. Some times things get changed before the person you bought it from got it. Most starters interchange without regard to flywheel size. Sometimes people forget to put the block spacer back on, that help locate the starter. Just throwing out some ideas. Let us know what you find out.
Dave of the Nord

 

[cooldude48818]

I do have the Borg and Warner 5 speed transmission. I put a ford shim on it and it now catches but still don't sound very good.

 

[baddad457]

Ford starters never used shims. The starter is indexed with the block plate that goes between the block and bell housing. A 78 starter may not work with a T5 bell. The year of the block has no bearing in the starter used as the starter does not bolt to the block and the blocks were all the same as far as bolt patterns and dimensions from 1965-2001.

 

[cooldude48818]

I know I have read that some people used 2 shims on the starter and that made it work great but I still have no idea. I am also trying to make sure that the timing is set right to. I see the timing marks on the balance and I see a tab by the water pump but don't see any marks on the tab. How do I set the timing and where do I set it?

 

[cooldude48818]

And how do I figure out which bell housing I have? The numbers on the Borg Warner are as follows: 13-52-065-908. And How would I go about finding the right starter since I can't see the flywheel and starter together to see what is going on?

 

[baddad457]

If it's a T5 bell, there's a 99% chance it uses a 157 tooth flywheel. The bellhousing has a set of casting numbers on it to I'd it. The timing pointer ? I'd have to see it to tell you how it relates to the balancer marks.

 

[cooldude48818]

Where would I find the ID#'s on the bell housing?

 

[baddad457]

The casting numbers are there, usually on the outside either on top or the bottom, sometimes you gotta clean all the grime off to find em.

 

[cooldude48818]

Can't seem to find the bell housing casting numbers anywhere so they must be in a place where I can't see them. I did try a 1984 ford mustang starter and when the engine got hot, it didn't have enough balls to start it so I switched back to the 78 mustang starter. I think my starter problem is there must be two teeth gone from the flywheel cause it rolls over and gets to one spot and stops. Then I turn the engine just a bit and it takes off again without the grinding noise so that's what I think my problem with that is. Is it a real pain to drop the trans and bell housing and the clutch to change that ring gear? I know that all of the exhaust is welded together everywhere on it but there are bolts hooking it to the headers so thats a good sign! And as for timing, this engine seems to like 6 degrees BTDC. I was also wondering what kind of fluid goes in my transmission? As I stated before the casting numbers say that it off from a 1984 Ford Mustang / Capri V8. Thanks for all the information that you guys have given me on this!

 

[baddad457]

If the motor likes 6*BTC, then something's amiss in the balancer or pointer. Every Ford I've worked with liked it in the 12-16* BTC range for the initial setting. As for it being a pain to chenge the flywheel ? Yea, but it's an even bigger pain dealing with your problem especially when it happens where you least expect it to. Like stalled in traffic or doing a quick run to the corner store that ends up taking an hour instead of 5 minutes.