Ok, just so everyone knows, I just replaced the 305 in my IROC (due to a broken push rod) and I'm in the process of trying to get it back up and running. The issue that I am having is the starter.

The starter is a brand new ProTorque Starter rated for up to 12:1 comp ratio that I got from Summit; I have attempted to shim it out as per the shim "instructions" that came with the starter. Problem is, when you try to turn it over, the solenoid clicks and the bendix engages the fly wheel [a 153 tooth FW by the way, in which the starter is good for 153 or 168 tooth FWs) but does not turn the flywheel or retract back into the starter [it gets stuck half way in the flywheel until you manually turn over the motor].

I thought that it was just a shimming issue, so I added more shims...same thing happens. There are no burrs on the FW or bendix gear and I'm not sure what the issue is.

I will also add, it does this all the time; with exception of pulling the spark plugs. I had the spark plugs removed for a different reason, when my friend noticed that the starter works fine without compression. Not sure if that is relevant or not to the issue at hand. The motor that is in there now only has a 8-9:1 compression ratio, so that starter should be able to handle it.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this damn pain in the rear end? I have searched around, but didn't really see anything similar to my issue. Car has been sitting now for close to 6 months and I would like to get it back on the road (and have some fun with it) before the crappy Ohio winter comes back.

 

That would be the telling point I suspect .The starter is not capable of turning your engine
Faulty starter maybe????
how fast does the starter spin the engine over with no plugs?
Does the pinion gear operate correctly? ( with no plugs )

Got another ( any ) known working starter to try ,to prove the point?

 

Well this is the third starter technically; the first two were Duralast OEM Remans. I thought that the OEM wasn't beefy enough to turn the motor over under compression, so I went to Summit Racing for the high torque ProTorque starter that I have now. And everything seemed to operate 'nominally' when the plugs were out.