[Hotrodjohn71]

Let me be a bit more specific in my question as I just reread my post and it seems to leave a bit to be desired.

I'm referring to the thrust travel of the pinion gear into the flex plate ring gear when the solenoid is fully engaged.

Earlier today, I was underneath the car attempting to perform the paperclip clearance check of the pinion gear to the ring gear valley clearance (.020 - .035), and using battery power connected to the starter S terminal to engage the solenoid, I noticed that the pinion engages all the way through the ring gear plus about 1/16".

This is a Powermaster 3655 which is basicly a stock style (not mini) starter.

I see in the instructions there is a minimal clearance from pinion to ring gear when the starter is not engaged. But nothing about the fully engaged thrust travel.

The reason I am enquiring is that I've read that on Chevy starters, the pinion is only supposed to engage about 1/2 or 2/3 of the way into the ring gear.