okay, i am going to try the new starter, which has the removable mounting block.
I have: Removed the nose piece, installed a a shim in the mounting block, alighted gasket and housing, and put shim in position, installed back the 3 bolts, made sure armature is sitting flush with mounting block.
i will be making sure that my ring gear clearance (pinion not engaged, measuring to .100 inch)
also, making sure the backlash of the pinion and the flywheel mesh is .15 inch
The thing i am worried with this starter is, the pinion gear is already meshing with the flywheel, and the clearance i would need would require a large shim to move the whole starter back, while leaving the mounting block still bolted to the engine, this would ultimately move my pinion back, and i would be able to to have a clearance or .100
AH so hard to explain, which we could have a video chat with like 10 of us and me explaining lol!
I ll take pictures!
also,
vegas69 right on the money, you were right, look below