[roger1]

Originally Posted by dataway

Roger ... in that starter video .... were you holding the solenoid engaged so the pinion would not retract?
Small amount of runout on mine allows good retraction on most of my flywheel but a little tight in one area ... wondering whether to add a shim or let it self clearance a bit.

At that point there wasn't any gasoline in the tank so the engine could not begin to fire. I did notice that after cranking for second and disconnecting the jumper wire that the pinion gear wouldn't retract. If I took my ring gear wrench and barely turned the flexplate, the gear would instantly retract. I mentioned this to RobbMc and they indicated it was normal and it's only an issue if the gear doesn't instantly retract upon the engine starting to fire.

I think yours would only be an issue if you have any contact between the tips of the ring gear teeth to the root diameter of the ring gear.

It was in an email that Robb explained to me how to check for that. Here is that response:

"I agree that you probably have some out-of-roundness of the ring gear but that is ok as long as the backlash is within spec all the way around.
Pull the starter off and look at the pinion gear on the starter and make sure that there are no witness marks at the root diameter of the pinion gear.

If there are witness marks, use a permanent marker to "paint" the root diameter between each tooth, add one 1/32" thick rectangular shim between the starter and the engine, bolt the starter back up and spin the engine again. Pull the starter and repeat until there are no witness marks. Don't add more shims than necessary to eliminate witness marks.

Then check the backlash at 3 or 4 places around the ring gear and make sure the backlash is not more than .031" at any point.

Once there are no witness marks at the root diameter of the pinion gear AND the backlash is not more than .031" anywhere, you are good to go. If this is not possible, you'll need a different flexplate."