I’ve been doing a little resealing of the A833 transmission and installing a new clutch in my 66 Hemi Satellite for a winter project. I hauled the old 172 tooth flywheel and new McLeod clutch over to a machine shop for balancing. The old clutch was a made in China for someone and I didn’t want to re-use it. The shop owner thought the flywheel looked on the thin side and suggested we see if we can find some thickness specs on it. Fortunately it was probably resurfaced not long ago and had zero hot spots or heat cracks and had been engaging smoothly so another resurfacing was probably not needed.
So, after a fruitless internet and forum search on original flywheel thickness I called Brewers Transmissions and asked their tech people. He said there’s a witness step ground on the perimeter of the bolt, center recess on the face of the wheel, of about .080” he believed from memory. He said until that step was gone it was good. Great - but I couldn’t remember if the flywheel still had it showing. So I asked just for reference if he had replacements in stock if I needed one. He said it depends - a true 66 Hemi flywheel has the ring gear pressed on from the transmission side. In 67 they changed and from then on for the 172 tooth flywheels the ring gear was pressed on from the backside - and that required a different direct drive starter. I knew mine was pressed on from the transmission side. He said well, that one isn’t available - can’t get it (except used). You would have to order a 67-69 flywheel which is available and then source a 67-69 direct drive starter. I said man, that sounds like a lot of money. He said I would suggest you clean up what you have and put it back in the car and run it.
So, back to the machine shop to look at the flywheel and very relieved to find a very good step of est .040” still showing. And the shop owner says the surface looks great and he would leave it alone, just balance everything. He did show me some tooth wear on the ring gear (I only glanced at the front side and didn’t think to look at it from the back). But his supplier showed a replacement available for $28 so that was an easy decision.
Thought I would post this info as FYI on the 66-specific flywheels/starters as I had not stumbled across it before. Probably just my inexperience since I’ve mostly had 727 cars. Thanks to Brewers for being a great resource on the subject.
I found this picture later and if you look closely you can see the service indicator step around the bolt recess.
So, after a fruitless internet and forum search on original flywheel thickness I called Brewers Transmissions and asked their tech people. He said there’s a witness step ground on the perimeter of the bolt, center recess on the face of the wheel, of about .080” he believed from memory. He said until that step was gone it was good. Great - but I couldn’t remember if the flywheel still had it showing. So I asked just for reference if he had replacements in stock if I needed one. He said it depends - a true 66 Hemi flywheel has the ring gear pressed on from the transmission side. In 67 they changed and from then on for the 172 tooth flywheels the ring gear was pressed on from the backside - and that required a different direct drive starter. I knew mine was pressed on from the transmission side. He said well, that one isn’t available - can’t get it (except used). You would have to order a 67-69 flywheel which is available and then source a 67-69 direct drive starter. I said man, that sounds like a lot of money. He said I would suggest you clean up what you have and put it back in the car and run it.
So, back to the machine shop to look at the flywheel and very relieved to find a very good step of est .040” still showing. And the shop owner says the surface looks great and he would leave it alone, just balance everything. He did show me some tooth wear on the ring gear (I only glanced at the front side and didn’t think to look at it from the back). But his supplier showed a replacement available for $28 so that was an easy decision.
Thought I would post this info as FYI on the 66-specific flywheels/starters as I had not stumbled across it before. Probably just my inexperience since I’ve mostly had 727 cars. Thanks to Brewers for being a great resource on the subject.
I found this picture later and if you look closely you can see the service indicator step around the bolt recess.
