Tomahawk Starter motor/flexplate combos

Hi all,
Those running the TA Tomahawk block, can you tell me what starter motor and flexplate combos you are using.
Cheers

 

JW flex plate with Tilton starter.

 

JW with Powermaster.

 

Any dramas with alignment?
What compression ratio

 

Any dramas with alignment?
What compression ratio Jim?

 

Other than just a few shims it lines up nice. 15:1 on the compression

 

Had to trim the starter gear with a Dremel because of the JW ring gear being off center.

14-1 or so compression.

 

PITA about the JW wheels being off centre. I remember talking to Mike at TA and he mentioned that he bought it to their attention, but they hadn't rectified the issue

 

I can chime in now that I've tried my new stuff out ...
I have a Powermaster XS starter and a Billet flexplate from Meziere. Went together easy and seems like it's going to work well.

Here's the starter ... https://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/pwm-9511/overview/

My old motor has a JW flexplate and a real old CSI starter. The JW on this motor was before they started having the quality issues I've heard about recently.

 

Didn't know they made a billet plates for our buicks.........

 

Jeff Strube had 10 of them made. I got two for me and two for other guys.

I think Jeff still has some for sale. They're pricey, but it's the last one you should have to buy.

 

I saw the ones Jeff was selling. I was thinking of getting one, but by the time I convert to $AUD its very pricey. Im sure its worth it, just cant afford it right now

 

Gary how much were those each

 

$500 + shipping

 

So this just happened today

 

jw and old old tilton . 15-1 loose the start retard lock dist. seperate switch for starter & ign get motor rolling then hit ign worked for us. jw wheel never lined up great when we went to Tomahawk i flipped it, get full engagment now!

 

Dave,
I am talking with the ignition manufacturer to see if we can disable the start retard. Ordered a new 166 teeth ring gear that I will get fitted to my first JW wheel

 

Royden,
Why disable the start retard? I use it and mine starts up beautifully. Many years ago I used to start mine the way Dave starts his, but I found it to be a PITA.

 

Im keeping the start retard. I think my issues have been lack of power(grunt) to starter and alignment issues.

 

Also asking Jeff if he has any billet flexplates left. Im over these POS JW wheels.
I bolted up my new Powermaster starter with the old JW wheel and its way off. Where they say to install a paper clip(0.035") in between the valley of the starter pinion and teeth on the flexplate, I can get atleast 0.070" pin in there. Just ****