Just wondering if anyone else has run into this problem. Or do I have an odd ball?

You have the spacer and washer that go with the flex plate? the spacer is stepped and makes up the difference you are seeing. The end of the crankshaft is the same on all 2.6s.

thanks oldcolt,
I do understand what you are saying, but if you look at the hole in comparison to the crank holes you will see that the diameter is different.

I have also compared the flywheels. I have three from raiders/monteros. all three are identical. The starion is different in that is does not appear to use the large spacer, just the washer. also it only uses 4 holes to bolt up to the torque converter. The flywheel drive plate is also offset on the starion flywheel/drive plate.

Thus my question, was there a change in 1989? I think my only option at this point is to have the torque converter holes drilled out of the starion driveplate.

looking for any thoughts on this little hurdle.
thanks.

If I am correct Starions came with both 4 and 6 bolt converters.

Do you have the center spacers and hardware that was original to your truck?

yes I do have all for my truck, plus two more sets. none work on the starion crank. the only one that works on the starion crank is the one that came with the motor. but it is only a 4 bolt to the converter and my converter on the truck is 6 bolt... the trany on the starion was bad so we did not want that converter.

The Montero and Starion flywheel interchange. I have swapped 3 Starion engines into Monteros and used Monti flexplates on all of them. I am using a Toyota torque converter in my turbo Montero. This torque converter is a 4 bolt mounting. I do not understand how your flexplates will not bolt up. Heck KA24 Nissan flexplates will bolt up as well.

I must not be explaining the situation well. I will post a couple more pictures. 1st the washer on the right is from one of the raider set ups. the one on the left is from the starion. as you can see the starion has a bigger whole.



next picture is the end of the crank. has you can see it has a hub on the end, I think this is to take the place of the thick spacer that the raider set ups had. the spacer can not be put on the crank because of the hub. also if you look at the pictures a few post back you can see that the starion flywheel is off set, the raider flywheels are not. this off set move the ring gear out a bit so it clears the starter.



and next is a picture of the crank on the raider motor. the outside diameter of it is a bit smaller, it also does not have the hub sticking out. therefor it would accept the large spacer. the starion crank is a larger diameter and the spacer will never fit over the outside edges.



last is a picture of the two flywheels next to each other. the center holes are not the same size. the crank holes however do match up.



I hope this helps clear up my challenge. believe me I have looked at this for some time. I just wonder if at sometime the crank was replace on the starion. I will find a way to make this work. The starion motor was a good one. My son went for a drive while it was still in the car and was impressed.

also thanks for taking the time to help me figure this out.

The center hub of the crankshaft is removable.

The starion a/t (a jap600) is an entirely different animal than the km148, so you have to use all monty parts, including the crankshaft end bushing...