Replaced the starter (with a rebuild) on Saturday on my '84 with very little effort and she started up immediately, but then I heard this terrible rattling/screaming/high pitched noise coming from underneath. I turned her on and off multiple times to test the new starter's functionality and to check if the noise occurred intermittently. I let her idle for nearly 7 minutes and the noise went away.

Went for a test drive around town and noticed the sound was coming and going randomly. Stopped by my mechanic-friend's house and he said "either you bent the flywheel plate or the starter is malfunctioning and staying engaged.

When I inserted the starter gear inside the flywheel area, I didn't struggle with it, so I can't see how I bent anything, but I am an amateur still.

Do I have a bad rebuilt starter or did I bend the plate?

 

shim the starter so the bendix sits loose enough to retract

 

I didn't think I had to shim it since there wasn't any shims present when I took the old starter off and the new starter is an exact OEM.

Anyways, I did get some shims from Dorman and tried a few sizes...1/64, 1/32, and 1/16. The starter made the same sounds as it did before, like a combination of banging on aluminum garbage cans and the moaning made from a power steering reservoir low in fluid. Yeah, that's a terrible way to describe the sounds, but that's what I make of it. It comes and goes too.

Since the starter has a 3 year warranty, I got another one yesterday and installed it yesterday evening. Same issue. I'm beginning to think the starter is not the problem and that it's something else instead (but coming from that same area). The flywheel plate isn't bent nor are the bolts loose.

Any ideas?