You jump in, hit the key, and you hear an odd zinging noise
It's a blissful Saturday morning-not a cloud in the sky, birds are singing, and you've decided that it's a good day to take the old steed out and stretch its legs a bit. You gather up the keys, the wallet, and the spouse, while heading out to the car. You jump in, hit the key, and you hear an odd zinging noise that's not the normal sweet music of a Ford starter cranking away at the flywheel of your Pony. Just in case it's a fluke, you twist again. Same thing. Not good. Now you're looking at spending the morning-at the very least-removing and replacing the big, heavy black cylinder that makes the engine start. Sigh.
As you pull out the starter, you're startled to see that it's marked with Ford part numbers. Glory of glories, not only does it have the correct part number, but it's also the correct date for your car. Now what? Well, you can do as we did and break open the old thing and find the problem and actually replace all the components therein. Why, you ask? Well, the satisfaction of doing it and the ability to be able to say "I did it." Oh, yeah, it's cheaper than buying a rebuilt one. Now get on down to NAPA and get those parts!
Parts List
Sadly, most parts counter help today won't be of much assistance. Ninety-nine percent of the counter people who you'll deal with will probably think you're mad for wanting a kit. So give them these numbers.
| Part | PN | Supplier | Cost |
| Starter drive | 656-1106 | NAPA | $14.99 |
| Rear bushing | 5339 | NAPA | $4.39 |
| Front bushing | 5302 | NAPA | $2.59 |
| Brush kit | F504 | NAPA | $4.50 |
| Total | $26.47 |
No Go...
After you've removed the starter,...
After you've removed the starter, remove the two long bolts in the end of the case. Clean these with a wire wheel or bead blaster. We painted ours so that they would be less likely to rust. We then coated the threads with Permatex Never Seize to make them easier to remove the next time.
This band covers the brushes...
This band covers the brushes and the motor in order to keep water and whatnot from inside the starter. You'll need to remove this to allow access to the brushes.
Evidence of our starting problem....
Evidence of our starting problem. Our one-way starter drive clutch is no longer only working one way. This caused the car to start, but as soon as the engine's compression built up, the drive would kick out. Most frustrating.
We started by removing the...
We started by removing the C-clip that holds the starter drive in position and also limits the drive's travel. We smiled at the Motorcraft mark that was on the face of the drive. Looks as though ours is an original.
The next step is to remove...
The next step is to remove the old brushes. These, like our drive, were vintage Ford. They were also so worn that they had started to wear the armature.
Though we have already removed...
Though we have already removed the armature, this pin is all that holds the starter drive plunger lever. We will use our wire wheel to clean this piece-not that anyone will ever see it. We also cleaned out the body of the starter, using compressed air.
Remove the brushes next. Don't...
Remove the brushes next. Don't immediately discard them because one of them will come in handy later.
As we stated in caption 5,...
As we stated in caption 5, the armature was worn. Our solution-as hammy as it may seem-was to get out some 80-grit sandpaper and sand down the high spots. We didn't want to remove too much material but enough to give the new brushes plenty of contact surface.