proper flywheel
 

I have a 89 gt conv. I have a 79 351w in it w/ t-5. Im using a flywheel from an 86 gt. my problem is that I keep tearing up my starters. there grinding just enough off the bendix to miss the flywheel and spin free. Does anybody know the right flywheel starter combo formy engine/trans?

Re: proper flywheel
 

That flywheel from a 86 GT is the wrong balance. You are going to have serious problems if you continue to use it. You need a 157 tooth 28 oz balanced flywheel where as the 86 GT uses a 50 oz balance. The stock 89 GT starter will work fine.

Re: proper flywheel
 

That is correct, I think you can have your 50 ounce flywheel cut to make it 28ounces for about 50-100$ by a machinist, ford Motorsport sells a 157tooth 10.5"clutch 28ounce flywheel for around 250$, Are you running v belt or serpentine belt?

I have a question for you, is your dipstick in the block on the driver side, or is it in the timing cover, I ask this because I am building a 77 302 for my 87GT that has the dipstick in the timing cover, I had to drill a hole in the alternator bracket to accomidate the dipstick, but on a v belt motor you don't have to , i wanted to keep serpentine because I wanted it to be easy and look nice and neat.

Did you have clearance problems with the motor swap? I did a 351 swap in my 88lx and had to run a cowl hood to clear the intake. I know the 93 convertible motor mounts and some of the aftermarket mounts drop the motor aprox. 3/4", For drag racing I'd rather have the center of gravity higher for more weight transfer.

Re: proper flywheel
 

I switched everything on the frontend to serpentine. I had to swap out my oil pan and I had a welding shop modify my a/c bracket to make everything fit. besides that Im using all 5.0 parts.

Re: proper flywheel
 

You can send your flywheel to Keith Craft racing in Arkansas and they will rebalance your flywheel for you. I had them do one for me and it cost $60 + shipping.

Regardless of the balance, you should not be tearing up starters unless you are using the wrong starter or bellhousing. What starter are you using? And what bellhousing are you using? You can use the 89 starter with the t5 and 351w with no problem. I have the same setup.