C3 Flywheel Replacement

Frank, You may want to recount the teeth on your flywheel. A C3OE flywheel will originally have 160 teeth and not 164. The replacement ring gear for that flywheel now has 157 teeth. The replacement flywheels for a C3OE one will also have 157 teeth. The 164 tooth flywheel is a larger diameter flywheel and uses a different bell housing and is not used in a 65 and 66 Hipo Mustang. The 164 tooth version was used in a 65 Hipo 289 Firlane and it was not a C3OE flywheel. The starter is the same for both the 157 and 160 tooth flywheel. The surface of the flywheel, in my opinion, is really only too thin when it has been surfaced down to the srarter ring gear. Absolutely do not run the flywheel if there are heat cracks deeper than the resurfaced area. I have had the personal experience of being in a car that had deep heat cracks. The flywheel exploded and ruined the back of the block, the frame, the floor and dash assembly basically totalling the car from within. I was fortunate enough not have my feet ripped off by the flywheel chunks that came through the floor. On top of that, I was the passenger and the driver panicked. I had to bring the car to a stop from 70 miles per hour down a slight grade in a residential area, by running the car into the curb sides for around a mile to stop the car as the brake lines had been severed.

If you choose to replace the flywheel there are many aftermarket billet flywheels available. Please keep in mind that it will need to be match balanced to your existing flywheel as the Hipo flywheel generally has different balancing characteristics from a standard flywheel.

-Fred-