Flywheel teeth munged

[Alan Pershing]

I was having a starting issue on my 61 356B; sometimes the starter would engage with the flywheel and sometimes not, emitting a winch-inducing grinding sound. When I bought the car 7 years ago, the engine had been rebuilt and the electrical system converted from 6V to 12V. I decided to replace the starter and had such a struggle with the top bolt, had to drop the engine to get to it (a pin had been welded onto the starter bolt head, unbeknownst to me). When I dropped the engine, it was clear I had an issue with the flywheel which has two sections of pretty munged up teeth. When I finally got the starter out, I found that it was a 6V starter. After reading a bit, it seems like running a 6V starter on a 12V system is a really bad idea and is probably the reason the flywheel teeth are damaged.

This discussion started in another thread about flywheel endplay and one of the moderators suggested I start a new thread since we'd moved over to discussing munged flywheel teeth, so here we are. I'm in the process of putting everything back together (12V starter, new flywheel, clutch, etc.) and wanted to make sure that, other than the starter, there isn't anything else I need to be aware of that could be damaging the flywheel.

The pictures are posting sideways, but the damage is pretty obvious.

[Harlan Halsey]

Zims can replace your badly damaged ring gear.

[Jules Dielen]

Did you replace it with a 12v flywheel?

[Vic Skirmants]

Did you replace it with a 12v flywheel?

There is no "12 volt" flywheel on a 356. All the 356 flywheels had the same tooth count, unlike VW.
Alan; when you mentioned 12 volt starter, I hope you meant one with the correct tooth count, but with a 12 volt solenoid.

[Alan Pershing]

Hi Vic,

Yes, it has the right tooth count and 12 V solenoid. I installed it, the new flywheel and a new clutch and pressure plate a few weeks ago and now it starts like a dream.