I have a completely stock 88 Iroc 5.7 TPI 700r car. My starter will spin the engine fine but every now and then it will just grind. If I turn the engine over by hand just a little then the starter engages fine. So yesterday I took the inspection cover and starter off and inspected all the teeth on the flexplate. They were good so I decided to get a new starter. After reading recommendations on this site I decided to get a mini starter from a 96 corvette like others have recommended. I put the starter on and when I was checking clearance I found that the starter gear only engages with half the flexplate teeth (only goes in half way). I decided to try and turn it over and it just ground also. My question is did I just get the wrong starter or am I missing something. Thanks and any help is appreciated.

 

Battery at full voltage? Good electrical connections? You say completely stock but is the flywheel original? It is a possibility to get a bad part even though it is brand new. There aren't too many variables, just start eliminating some and work forward from there. Keep us updated!

 

I don't believe the starter gear is intended to fully mate with the flywheel. I "think" it only engages half way by design.

 

If that's the case maybe it just needs shimmed. Can anyone else verify this?

 

Every mini starter i've ever used only goes about half way into the teeth of the flexplate.
Some causes for a grinding starter can be,...cracked flexplate, wrong starter bolts, incorrect clearance/shim, or worse yet,...the dreaded cracked outer starter bolt hole in the block.

 

Shimming will only affect your pitch clearance. The amount that the starter gear extends is fixed.

 

Replaced the 96 Corvette starter last night with a PowerMaster 9100 from Summit and everything is good! The starter gear extends the correct distance to flexplate and I did not need to shim. Perfect right out of the box and cheaper than the corvette starter. I would highly recommend this to others doing the upgrade. Bonus of the mini starter is that I did not have to remove any of the exhaust pipes.

Also, thanks to each of you for your replies and help. It's greatly appreciated!

 

I too just switched to powermasters hi tq LS starter, and I am very impressed.

 

Got a few Powermaster SBC mini starters myself

 

One nice feature of their 9000-series starters is the full-contact flat surface at the top of the mounting flange. That can help resolve issues when bolting a starter up to a block with "the problem" in the starter mounting pad area.