I've been having problems getting my starter to engage with the flywheel ever since I swapped to a 350. I bought a new 168 tooth flywheel, and the guy that put my motor in gave me a starter to match up with it. It's the right starter and flywheel, at least I'm pretty sure. When I first put the starter on, I had to shim the outboard side .060". And today it just kept grinding and wouldn't catch at all, so I shimmed the outboard side to .100" and the first couple of times it started without a problem. But now I'm back to square one because it keeps grinding. I did notice that the corner of the block where the outboard side bolts up is cracked a little. Since it keeps giving me more trouble, the only thing I can think of is that the crack got worse.
The teeth on the flywheel have grinded down a little bit, but on my old 305 the flywheel teeth were grinded down more than that and I never had a problem starting up. I know it could be the starter, but I don't need to buy one if the starter isn't the problem. Does anyone have an idea as to what the problem is?

 

Have you actually measured the clearance to ensure the starter teeth and the flywheel teeth mesh well or are you just trying different shims?

 

Well, I pulled the starter and somehow the one of the bolts that holds the solenoid housing came out, and the other one was halfway out. I was able to pull the bendix out with my fingers, and I don't think I should be able to do that; that's what they said at O'Reilly. I don't have anything to measure the clearance between the teeth, so I just kept shimming it in .020" increments until it would catch the flywheel.

I'm going to get a new starter this week. I've been told by two people that I shouldn't have to shim a new starter, but I guess I'll find out when I get to it.

 

if you are running the larger 168 tooth flywheel make sure you are running a staggered bolt pattern starter. The inline pattern starter is for a 153 tooth flywheel. good luck friend.