Need A .125 MS Mid Plate

I was having starter and ring gear problems and as it turns out the starter register on my midplate is not correct, came with the car. Not off much, but enough to cause issues

I am looking to see if anyone knows who sells a 1/8 Mild steel mid plate that has the correct engine dowel and starter register locations - will look at the vendors, but thought someone may have gone this route before and had an answer.

There was a guy who sold header flanges on the board, but not certain if he does mid plates - but if he had the plasma setup to do flanges he could probably copy a ford seperator plate and put it on a piece of 1/8 plate and make a mid plate. But I dont recall his name.

Thanks
Ron in Houston

Rvesterby wrote:I was having starter and ring gear problems and as it turns out the starter register on my midplate is not correct, came with the car. Not off much, but enough to cause issues

I am looking to see if anyone knows who sells a 1/8 Mild steel mid plate that has the correct engine dowel and starter register locations - will look at the vendors, but thought someone may have gone this route before and had an answer.

There was a guy who sold header flanges on the board, but not certain if he does mid plates - but if he had the plasma setup to do flanges he could probably copy a ford seperator plate and put it on a piece of 1/8 plate and make a mid plate. But I dont recall his name.

Thanks
Ron in Houston

Jon Thee, not sure if he's on this forum or not, I know he was on brand X.......

appreciated

Fustrating to have a car you cant run because you cant start it

Rvesterby wrote:appreciated

Fustrating to have a car you cant run because you cant start it

No doubt!

If the starter isn't engaging enough, you need to add a spacer between the mid plate and the back of the block. This is if you bolt the starter to the mid plate. If it is over engaging, you need to add a spacer between the starter and the mid plate.

Curt

It isnt a starter pinion issue (depth) , it is the starter register or hole in the mid plate that locates the starter pinion gear teeth in relationship to the ring gear teeth - it is not round or correctly centered and the starter moves away fron the ring gear no matter how tight you get the bolts - only good solutuion is to use a midplate with the correct starter location - that is the reason I am looking for a new midplate, found several, but not with a starter register hole - appreciate the input


Ron

Ron,

What bellhousing do you have? Does the starter bolt to the bell at all?

get a JW Ultra Bell


Randy

i run a stock ford plate and a .090 steel mid plate with my reid glide with no issues.my mid plate doesnt go down to the starter though.

Yes have a Reid BBF Bell on their case - the starter bolts to the bell, like a reg ford C6 - I pulled the tranny back and put a ford midplate on back of the steel midplate using the alignment dowels - the midplate hole is off compared to the Ford plate - this was my initial thought - cant use both as the Ford plate is embossed and cutting the embossed pieces out would take away the strength

Chris Alston makes an Aluminum 1/8 midplate with a starter register machined on it - talked with their tech guy and asked if anyone ever bitched about starter alignment issues - he replied in 15 years nothing, but was quick to add he often got calls on their other plates and starter alignment - so took a chance and ordered it -the other plus is it is 30 x 20 inches so just have to trim it to install

Powemaster tech said if there is room to move the starter will - but not all that convienced the starter pinion gear on their ultra torque starter I have should move as much as it does - I am stronly considering tryingthe mid 80's ford trk starter, realizing the plastic internal gears will not take a kick back, but Autozone has a 1 year warranty and it probably wont damage the ring gear - the big plus is the captured front nose keeping the starter gear from moving laterly

Sent the damaged flex back to Reactor, they got it monday and tuesday PM he was calling me for shipping info - $100 plus shipping - same as JW, but JW is usually slower - one of those For What It Is Worth things

Now just waiting on the parts

I have the JW bell. .120 midplate stock block plate. Both the midplate and the block plate are trimmed out in the middle to allow the flexplate to pass through. No issues yet 8 seasons now.

dkp

Good info Ron. I think Chris Corey on the other site had some similar issued when he swapped from a JW glide to a Reid glide. Let us know how it all turns out.

Has your car been to the Bash? I was looking through some old pics and thought I saw it.

Joe

Not Yet - Next year for the bash
It is a brand new 1995 car - built but never finished, sat in a garage in Flordia until I purchased and completed it - It has one easy shake down pass a couple weeks ago before starter ring gear issues happened

Ron

Maybe I made my project too simple. With everyone having problems with mid-plates and such. Why not use the standard separator plate to locate the starter, and make "mounting tabs" that go between the bolt heads and the bellhousing on each side, things are real easy. Made mine outta 1/4" aluminum plate, just cuz it was available.

I agree that is a simpler way to go - i eve had 3 block plates
But the car was setup this way when i got it - some chassis shop built it a while ago
I thought about using the factory seperator plate and building right and left brackets to bolt on to the 6 bell to block 7/16 bolts
Problem was when I used spacers to make that surface parallel on the back side of the bell I would be to far back on the tube chassis rails to make a tab to bolt a bracket to
So with what i had to start with - this will work with the least amount of changes and physical effort

But I like necessity being the mother of invention

BTW - I am going to use a Chris Alston 1/8 aluminum midplate with the machined starter register, there tech dept guy said he nver has had a complaint about starter position, so we will give him the benefit of the doubt and give it a try - got my flex back from Reactor yesterday, getting a DB electric 85 trk 460 starter today (have a Powermaster to fall back on if needed) but I like the captured starter pinion shaft, cant move sideways - mid p;late due in monday - plan is to be at Houston Raceway Park friday night for a shake down - second pass in the car

Thanks
Ron

Hope it all works out for you. Let us know how the car runs.

jbozzelle wrote:Hope it all works out for you. Let us know how the car runs.

X2! Good luck Ron.