Starter motor grinding against flex plate?

[72timemachine]

My friend has an 84 c3500 Chevy with a small block 350 with a th400 transmission.

He just bought it and the starter was grinding when you turned the key. I dropped the starter and found a shim along with one washer on the passenger side starter bolt. I guess the last guy was trying to offset the solenoid gear to stop the grinding but it did not work.

We put in a different starter motor with just the shim and no washer just to see if that would make a difference...no change.

Removing the transmission inspection cover did not show any real damage to the teeth on the flex plate and when he turned the key it looked like the solenoid gear was hitting the face of the flex plate teeth.

Seems like it needs more shims to drop it lower so it will engage the flex plate teeth without the horrible grinding noise.

Any help would be appreciate.

[Tash4]

is the starter or flexplate new? some of the rebuilt starters nose cones are not machined correct. generally shims will fix it if you are too close. make sure you have the correct starter bolts & not regular bolts. the bolts should fit through starter without much wiggle. good luck.

[kwmech]

Are the starter bolts straight across or staggered?