starter giving me a fit

[71GMCinTN]

Have the solenoid off to engage the starter drive,and it seems that it is hitting into the flexplate. looking at the pics I just took, it looks too far down from the flexplate teeth now, but seems like it needs to be shimmed to not hit into the side of the flexplate. (have tried moving the flexplate slightly to see if it helps)
Could the teeth on the starter drive be that bad?
PO only used it a week, before the head broke (they had reg. bolts in the starter), but was SCREECHING real bad.
Can't get a good pic of it, but might help.

[71GMCinTN]

resized the one picture before I posted it, but let me try this.

[VetteVet]

If you install the solenoid and disconnect the copper bar that goes into the starter field to prevent the starter from turning, you can make a jumper from the positive cable to the S terminal and you can engage the starter drive gear to the flexplate and see exactly what's happening. If you have the coil ignition you should disconnect the "I" terminal to avoid sending voltage to the coil.

It's possible to pry the gear out into the flexplate manually but it's hard to hold out and see what you have.

[71GMCinTN]

It's possible to pry the gear out into the flexplate manually but it's hard to hold out and see what you have.
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Yeah, I figured it would be good to leave the solenoid off, and move it manually. Just hits into the flexplate. If I mount it up, and the bendix happens to be out, I would be able to move it back and forth some across the flexplate teeth, but after it disengages fully, it just hits into the side again on the next try.

[raycow]

It looks like you have discovered what starter shims are made for.

Ray

[71GMCinTN]

I have shimmed the dog-stuffing out of it, has made no diff. ............so far. I'll try another Bendix.

[gkesseru]

To move the starter in one direction, you use whole shims. To move the starter in the other direction you cut the shims in half and put them only under the outboard bolt side.

I went through two starters, three Bendix's and ruined two flex plates before I gave up and bought a Summit Mini starter and their racing flex plate. Fit perfect with no shims, no grinding, and needed no shims. And runs quieter to boot.

[71GMCinTN]

Yeah, a mini starter was my first choice when the PO was having the probs., but when I saw they had reg. bolts instead of starter bolts, I figured that was the prob.(skreeching, busted head,etc.) Deff. will get one ASAP.

[johnechi]

I have seen many a flexplate with bad teeth that grab onto the bendix and chew it up also. I too would change out the flexplate and get a hi torque starter motor and be done with it. Most of the hi torque starters I've seen have a billet aluminum nose/mount that hold up better than the cast aluminum nose housings out there, especially ones that have been rebuilt several times. You can take three reman starters, measure the nosecones and get three different measurements.

[Wrenchbender Ret]

Take a big rough file & go across the mounting surface of the starter. Leave the shims out. The bolt holes get pulled out & space the starter away from the flywheel. Like one poster said, no 2 nose end housings are the same.

[Heartbeat of America]

I feel your pain. My starter is giving me fits too. I got mine aligned almost perfect, with two starts back to grinding.

[71GMCinTN]

Took a big rough file, and went across the mounting surface, and used no shims. Just had a hot wire going to the solenoid. Engages good, but won't retract. Have to use a screw driver to push the bendix off the flexplate teeth.(deff. pressure on it) Off to try a shim..........lol

[Jwill41]

mine was touching on every revolution while motor was running. I loosened the starter bolts and pushed the end of starter toward the motor while tightening. no more noise and it has been about 6 months and a daily driver. Its hard to explain but I guess you could say I twisted the starter while tightening the bolts.