454 Flywheel Differences
 

I took a mid 80s crusader 454 down to a long block and dressed it with mercruiser accessories. Left the crusader flywheel on the engine and low and behold i have a starter that now just spins and doesnt engage the flywheel. How do i figure out if this engine has an internally balanced or externally balanced flywheel? I have the mercruiser flywheel i can swap over, but don't want to do that if the engine is externally balanced.

I believe you have the wrong starter of that flywheel, 168 tooth starter, you may need a 153

the ring gear can be an innee or an outee depends on where the starter is located

another thought is if that engine had a rear top mount starter the ring gear was moved to the back

EDIT: if its ext balanced it will have a counter weight on it

The engine had a top, bell housing mounted starter, and now has a block mounted starter.

Remove it heat the ring and move it to the front

Like F2 said you need to move the ring gear. Knock it off with a brass punch and a big hammer. Put the ring gear in the oven at 450 degrees for a half hour and it should fall right back onto the flywheel on the correct side.

Thanks guys, now only if I knew this before I got the engine hooked all back up and drive back on...

Raray888 has to be an AI bot no one talks like that in the marine mechanical world

Ya I reported raray but nothing has been done to remove it

Thats funny because I did too. Mainly because the info is not really correct and could cost somebody if they dont know any better :(

Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on him/her/it.

Your profile says you're a marine mechanic in the United States. Where at ???
All your posts show your IP Address is in the Netherlands. Care to explain??

Ive never seen it respond ( quote ) to someone else's post

Flywheel removed. Looks like i need to take the ring gear off completely and flip it? There's around an 1/16" thick piece of steel between the Flywheel and the ring gear and it's wider than the ring gear? Both flywheel shown with crankshaft mounting surface facing up
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...437aa08303.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...801915ca2f.jpg

Correct. Knock the old ring gear off with a brass punch and a big hammer. Stick it in the oven at 450-500 degrees for 30 minutes and it should fall right back onto the other side of the flywheel. If it does not go all the way on you can use the hammer and punch to seat it all the way. Make sure and take some sandpaper and clean all of the paint and rust etc off the flywheel where the ring gear will sit.

Which flywheel is the one from your engine ?? Just want to mention that the second flywheel has been custom balanced to match a particular engine. I am saying that because of the row of smaller holes I can see drilled in it. It should not be used on any engine other than the one it came from.

First one is the one from the engine im running. Second picture is the Flywheel from the old engine. Some backyard mechanic cobbled it together, lasted 3 hours after supposedly being rebuilt and lost a lifter.