i've asked something similar to this question 3 times and its still making the noise. i go to start my car and it makes a bad grinding noise. i have a 40 thousandths shim installed, new starter bolts, the timing is set right, the starter is in tight, the teeth on the starter gear and flywheel are fine. all i have to do to get it to work is clean off the starter gear because my rear main seal is leaking, loosen the starter bolts and tighten them back up. than it worked for about 2 startups. can somenbody help me with this? thanx

 

If you add shims, does it get better, or worse?

What kind of block is it?

Did you do a search yet for posts with "4347" in the text with my userID?

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

[This message has been edited by RB83L69 (edited November 20, 2001).]

 

i had a 60 thousandths shim in there and when i switched to the 40 it got better, but it made the noise when i didnt have any shims at all. the engine is an 86 350 crate motor nothing special about it. i didnt look for any posts

 

mine kept doing that also, shimmed it way out , way in eather way just kept grinding and grinding, i put in a new starter and problem gone! could be the starter gear is f'ed

 

Do the search then, I've answered this same post lots of times, the problem is in the block if it's the usual one. The clue that taking shims out makes it better is the key: the root cause of The Problem is that the starter bolt holes in the block are drilled too far from the crank. Take all the shims out and see if it becomes livable.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

i'll try tomorrow. i'll let u know, thanx

 

I would take it to a trusty mechanic thats hard to find nowadays however. I have the same problem on mine right now somimes it grinds and does not catch then sometimes it works perfect. I do believe it has to do with a shim or it may just be the wrong starter.