[chr2002ca]

I'm a little late to the party here, but I just wanted to add that sometimes a freakin starter will gag on the flywheel no matter how well you shim it. I bought a brand new Powermaster mini starter and attached it to my brand new, unmodified GM crate motor and that frickin thing would occasionally just gag and crunch on the flywheel. I had both sets of clearances perfect and the thing still did it occasionally. At first, I thought it might be an insufficient voltage or ground causing the problem, but it wasn't. I pulled that started and replaced it with a Tilton(no shims needed) and the Tilton has worked perfectly every time. It's very possible the Powermaster unit I got wasn't any good. Maybe it was a factory defect or something. It happens all the time so it wouldn't be surprising. I bought it new from Summit and it comes with 'starter dyno' sheet from Powermaster but that doesn't mean it couldn't have a flywheel engagement problem. Anyway, the moral to my long-winded story is, sometimes it's just the friggin starter and you should try a different one.