Hey guys, check this out. I went from a 153t flexplate to a 168t for the new torque convertor. Well, now the mini starter has it's teeth in the ring gear, even when not cranking. I shimmed it forward, but I think I need to shim it some more. My question is, do you think I'd be safe with about 3/8" of shim in between the main body and the nose? I'm sure I'm going to have to get new bolts to hold both halves together if I do. I really don't want to go back to a stock trans, tq, and flexplate if I can help it.
Thanks.

 

Forgot the pic.

 

Is the flexplate on backwards?

There should be no way you can move the starter in and out. Installing shims under the starter mount only moves it higher and lower to get the proper drive engagement.

There should be between .060" and .140" gap between the starter drive and the ring gear when the starter drive is retracted.

Pull the starter drive out into the ring gear. You should be able to stick a .025 to .055 piece of wire in the valley of the drive gear teeth.

 

yea, I agree, you shoulden't have to shim a starter foreward or aft, that dosen't look right.

 

This is the second flexplate. The first one was a TCI, same deal. I thought it was on backwards too, but if I flip it around, the tq never bolts up right. This one has engine side and transmission side marked on it, so I don't think it's backwards. Plus, with the way the bosses are raised for the tq bolts, I'm positive the flexplate is on the correct way.
FWIW, I talked to a tech at TCI, and he said they sell starters that you can shim fore and aft. This one definitely does not need to be shimmed down, that does no good. Thanks for the inputs so far.

 

when i installed my mini starter, it had the same problem. The starter came with a shim to go between the starter body and the billet? piece that bolts to the block. This fixed the problem.

 

Thanks GTA. Now all I have to do is make a thicker shim, since my original box with accessories is long gone.
It worked fine on my stock L98 for three years, but go ahead, swap motors... What fun we are having!!!!

 

Let me know how it works, my 383 short block from GMPP is on its way (along with a few other goodies). Hopefully I won't run into any problems though because my starter is also from GMPP made for the ZZ4 short block.