Ok guys so I picked up this 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis. And it has the 5.0 V8. It has a brand new starter on it. But I noticed when. I crank it over, it makes a grinding noise. It still starts just fine but when she cranks over I hear that grinding noise. I put in a spacer/shim but it still makes noise. I can't seem to find anywhere whether or not It requires a shim or not. I read somewhere that it is .100 for the spacing. Anyone have any experience with this??

 

Bump. Anyone know anything about these cars?

 

Probably the incorrect starter.
Ford had 157 and 164 tooth starters. 164 was for older manual cars.
AFAIK the 164 was only different in that it has a longer snout for the older cars, where the 157 tooth fly/flex wheel starters are the same on later cars. The diameters are different on 157 flex/fly wheels but the mid plate that the starter bolts to will keep the starter the correct orientation.

Why was the original starter replaced?

http://www.bcbroncos.com/ford%20starters.pdf

^that should help clarify it a bit.

 

Thanks Mad Mike. I'm not sure why the original was replaced. Hell I'm not even sure if it's the original engine or not. I got a new starter and put that in and I noticed that the teeth on the flywheel were a little chewed up on the starter side. I got the stock replacement starter for it when I went to oriellys but I wonder If the engine has been swapped and maybe it's just the wrong starter for it?

 

If the teeth are worn off, it is probably from someone turning the car to start while it is running. BTDT. It will wear off the teeth on the flexplate.
If the whole flexplate is like that, I would suggest having it replaced. At best you will have grinding and need a new starter again, or worse the flex plate is cracked. You can verify if the flex plate is cracked by loading the engine against the brakes in Drive. If you hear a clanging noise then the flexplate is bust.

As for identifying the engine.
IIRC the Panther cars used the lo-po 5.0. SEFI but Speed Density, and it may also have the older 302 firing order of 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8.
It is a different beasty from the more well known Mustang 5.0.

Best website would be crownvic.net, it used to be really good, then became full of ****-head-know-nothing-wanna-be-cop-trolls. But there should still be some good tech in the stickies.