Hey all,

So I finally got my motor back in the car after several long months. We encountered a strange problem however. I did a SH to base swap in this process, utilizing a JDM M2A4 transmission instead of the stock M2U4 SH tranny (no atts ftw). Anyway, when we try and start it, the starter gear isn't able to make reach and make contact with the flywheel. It seems like either the starter gear isn't big enough in diameter to make contact with the flywheel or the flywheel isn't big enough in diameter to make contact with the starter gear.

This doesn't seem right to me, as I had always thought that H22 flywheels would fit pretty much any H22 from any year, and same for the starter. Question is, is there a different starter utilized for JDM transmissions? Or is that the starter I currently have is positioned/installed wrong? I've never heard of such a problem and would appreciate your guys' help on this one. Thanks in advance!

 

I've seen this come up only a handful of times over the last several years, but yes the JDM starter is for whatever reason different than USDM, at least on some engines.

Strangely enough, the parts catalog doesn't show a usdm specific part number.

 

Ah man, that's a total drag, but seems logical. I'm looking into it now. Thanks for your help Vin