Gone bush
There is no bush on the ring gear end of the starter shaft, or in the bellhousing itself. The shaft is only supported by the two bearings in the body of the starter.
Bryan, try firing up the starter on a bench, with nuts on the ends of the long bolts to hold it all together. If it works, you know you have a problem elsewhere. If it won't work on the bench when tightened up, I'd suggest looking for the thrust washer which might be missing and allowing the Armature to move and short out on the body or field coils.
Is the starter the original one? English post war V8s (Thames Trader, Pilot, etc) had different length starter mount plates and the overall length of the Bendix gear was longer, but with a narrower gear. I haven't swapped any over, but there might be fouling issues with different starter/flywheel combinations. The pic below shows a Ford Pilot starter on the left, and a Canadian style starter on the right.
|