How do I determine the tooth cound on a flywheel without removing it?

I have a 1966 ford ranchero with a 351 windsor motor in it, the starter went out on it the other day and I need to know the tooth count on the flywheel so I buy the right starter, is there a way to do this without removing the whole thing?

You can't. The 351w didn't come in till 1969 anyway. What you do is take out the starter(because you don't know the year of the motor ) and have counterperson will match it.

Assuming the flywheel is partially visible and manually moveable mark a tooth you can see with white paint/fingernail polish etc. Try counting the teeth until you return to where you started.

Sure you can Take out the starter and put a dab of paint on one of the teeth then have someone slowly turn the engine by hand using a socket and breaker bar on the crank pulley bolt while you count the teeth

Or just do it the easy way and take the bad starter to a parts store and get a starter with the same diameter Bendix gear and number of teeth

Take off the bell housing cover, mark a tooth, count the teeth as you slowly rotate the flywheel. The third time you count them will probably be the right count. With that sheet metal cover removed you can see a small section of the flywheel, its teeth and the torque converter bolts.

Since you have already stated the starter motor has failed, you have to remove it anyway. Remove the old starter motor, bring it down to the auto parts store and let them match up a new on to it.

Remove the starter to gain access. Mark a tooth with white correction fluid. Get a friend to slowly rotate the engine by hand using a socket and bar on the crankshaft pulley. Carefully count the teeth. Make sure the key isn't in the ignition.

Remove your old starter and count the teeth on the pinion. Then buy a new one with the same number of teeth.

To count flywheel ring gear teeth, you mark one tooth, then start counting the teeth and turning the flywheel or crankshaft while counting.

You don't need to remove the flywheel. Maybe having a helper would make the task easier.

Just count the number of teeth on the starter.

In this link it shows the different Windsor starters and fly wheels. What I noticed is that the fly wheels are easy to tell apart based on where the shoulder is no it. The 164 tooth flywheel will have the shoulder located away from the starter.