[accontrol]

First Thank you Tom for your Email..

We just build a 396 for a 69 Nova

and we got rubing from the Mini starter on the flex plate

we quickly check thrust bering problem.. not the it..
and the trany is not pushing to..

is it a posibility that this SFI flex plate be bad ? it's a cheap $78.00
unit...

is there better one out there and is there any info on this problem

thank you all

 

[antihuman81]

I had the same issue on my mini starter\flex plate. my starter came with a shim that actually shimmed it back from the motor, it went between the body and the mounting plate.... dont know if yours came with that or not, but if so try putting it in. p.s. creeped me out when i had just built the motor, spent all that time and money, very scary sound.....

 

[2NDTYM]

You can purchase those shims at most auto parts stores in their "HELP" parts section. Also check the clearance between the end or face of starter gear and flex plate ring gear teeth. If close you may want to rotate flex plate by hand 180 deg and check total clearance all the way around. Had a mini once that I had to grind about a 1/16 off face of gear. Cheers!

 

[Tom Mobley]

sounds like good advice. be sure to let us know what you find.

 

[Mike Feudo]

Had to grind the one I put in the old Nova with a factory std trans flywheel. It was closer to 1/4in but it wasn't in a stress area of the starter so everything is fine.

 

[strtlegal]

is it during starting or while its running?????
if its while running its the flex plate..i had the same problem with my mini starter..i would have never noticed it until i installed the mini starter, reason being is a factory starter returns almost an inch away from the flexplate while the mini starter release just a little bit back so when the motors running it makes a nasty scretching sound

cheap flexplates normally bend real easy. when your matting the plate and t-converter together some people forget to lock down the t-converter in its finally resting area and use the converter bolts and nuts to tighten the two together which it does fine until you realize it becomes bent..

hope i helped!