i have 1982 Firebird S/E 2.8 V6. Now i know sometimes when you have a bad starter a whining noise will occur, but i just had my starter tested and it is fine. i tried to start the car and it wouldn't turn over and there was a loud whining noise. All belts are fine. I noticed when i took the starter off, there were some spacers that came off also. I put the starter back on without the spacers. Could this this be the cause of my whining?

 

Yes reinstall the spacers and see if it still whines. More then likely you're not making contact with the fly wheel.

 

well it was still attempting to turn over but it just wouldnt do it

 

Starter is bad.

There's no "test" that a parts store can do, that will check for thate particular part (the drive sprag aka Bendix) that has failed in your situation. Only test available is, does it start the car. Yours fails that test. Therefore doesn't matter what tests it passes, it still fails.

Replace the starter. Don't outsmart yourself. Put the shims back in when you do that.