I just finished doing some repairs on my 68 gs400, While I had the motor out I replaced the flex plate. The reason for this was that every 20 or so times I would start the car it would grind, You all know that sound where every person in a 1/4 mile radius turns and looks, Sounds like when the starter is engaged while the motor is already running. So any way the flex plate did have a worn spot on it about 3 inches long that encroached on about 25% of the teeth. I figured it was just wear and or some damage from some previous mishap. So I installed a new flex plate from Ta performance. It looks exactly like the old one only beefed up just a bit with deeper gears. Everything seems to be fine as I started the car and ran it at a higher rpm for 20 minutes to run in my new cam, Then before restarting it last night I was checking the dwell, so I was cranking a few times without starting. One of the times I engaged the starter I had that terrible grinding happen, So now I am worried that there is something I need to do to correct a problem before I start damage on my new flex plate, A Starter Shim????????? The gear on the starter looks ok, I don't know what other adjustments are possible if any, Any input on this ,, Thanks Rich
I put a new plate and starter. I had to add a shim. get the shims or make a shim out of sheet metal but do not use spacers.
Is it a stock starter? I have never had to shim a stock starter. I would suspect a problem with the starter drive. Maybe time for a rebuild. When you shim a starter, you increase the backlash. Starter shims come in a package in the "HELP" section of the Auto Parts store, http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-285-02335.aspx?origin=keyword Not enough backlash usually results in a "zing" or screeching noise as the engine starts. I just replaced my starter with a Mini from Robb Mc Performance. I had to make 2 adjustments to it with shims. On the Robb Mc starter and the Powermaster starters that have a mounting block, you can shim between the mounting block and starter to increase the clearance between the pinion gear and the flex plate. You can't do that with a stock starter. I actually needed an additional shim from Robb, because the supplied one wasn't enough. It would grind because of that. I also added a 1/32" shim between the mounting block and engine block. Starter works like a charm now.
