anyone had starter/flywheel alignment issues before?

ok, bit of a back story for you all. when i first got my bus running last year i had a normal 2l kombi starter in it and had no problems, but changed over to an auto starter that i had layign around after having been advised to use one for an engine conversion as these were meant to have a stronger bearing system. this lasted me until queensland, when the edge of the starter teeth began to wear from not engaging far enough, leaving me with no starter.
after soem angry phonecalls to the people i was advised to use the auto starter by, we deduced that because of spacing an auto starter should NOT be used on a 2l box 😠 so i had a 'reco' manual starter fitted by a mechanic that complained that my stock clutch was something weird and foriegn and huge that was binding on the starter whenever he fited it so he decided to space out the starter with washers then charge me a huge amount and force me to do it off the books. this starter may have been the cause for a rubing noise at walking pace, and lasted maybe 1000km, burnt out in the middle of brisbane. this was replaced by a 'new' (read resprayed old) starter and the mechanic claimed that a 1 in a milloin, the starter's end bearing had binded in its housing and locked up causing the starter to cook. he too found distancing to be wrong, finding that whenever he tried to start it it would bind up, but re-assessed the washers and managed to fit up the 'new' starter successfully (which eliminated the rubbing sound). this lasted another 1000km or so until i tried to start one morning in Bowen only to find a claimed low batt charge and the starter locked on. the wreckers there who were wonderful drove me to an auto elec to test the smoking remains of the starter to confirm its death, then managed to get a starter sent in (unfortunately it turned out to be an 1800) then another, untested 2l starter from an inland town. i refitted this myself with LESS washers then before (i lost some in the grass and was beyond caring) and while i was in town i talked to an auto elec and had the cheap relay fitted to the starter replaced as we agreed this could possibly be getting stuck at low voltage. surprise surprise, this old starter, fitted without the extra spacing but with the new relay gave me no trouble whatsoever for the rest of my travels.
Because of this, when i got back and fitted my new engine, i decided it was likely that the relay had been the problem all along, and decided to fit the starter without any spacers. this worked fine for the first day, but on the second day there was horrible noises and the starter ended up binding the whole engine solid. i managed to tap and lever the starter free, put as many spacers in as there was the first time it was successfully spaced, and it turned over more freely, but i cut the test short as a couple of times when turning over a sound very similar to the previous one occurred again.

what i want to know is, where do i go from here? could it be an issue with the starters aligment with the flywheel teeth? the starters aligment with the hole for the bearing in the bellhousing? maybe (hopefully) a faulty disintegratign end bearing? has anyone else had a similar issue in an engine conversion or even normal dub? sorry about the long post but any help much appreciated

bad run there.

Sounds like your adaptor plate / flywheel combo might be bad / wrong. This would put your pressure plate in the wrong place inside the bell housing.

Or your pressure plate is wrong and sticks out from the flywheel too far.

You shouldn't have to space out the starter. If you do there is something else wrong.

Get some calipers and measure how far in the bellhousing the ring gear is, and then see how far out the starter pinion is from the starter mounting flange when fully extended. These should match each other. If this distance is out your adaptor / flywheel combo is wrong in some way.

If that's ok your pressure plate must be bizarre.

has got me stumped. what should the measurements be, any idea? the flywheel was made by a guy who has been doing it for 30 years, it may be 1mm or so out in depth as i had to measure that but the rest should be perfect, it was milled from scratch, just seems funky that the current problem is only occuring since the engine refit. cant imagine that i could have misaligned the whole damned engine!? maybe i will dig up my old starter and see what happens with that fitted?

the measurements should match each other.

E.g. if the ring gear is 50mm in, then the bottom of the tooth on the starter should stick out 50mm when extended.

We are experiencing a similar problem. The old starter worked fine..we got the engine runnning and then it started to bind up. I took it out and the starter was worn and loose in the housing. I grabbed one from another car, and it is doing it also.. I am pulling the motor this morning for a look.

Matt

I've had a similar problem. The bushing in the bellhousing was not the correct size for the starter motor shaft. (The starter shaft was too loose in there)

It worked fine for a while, but as the shaft was not sitting up high enough the starting collar started to bind in the bell housing causing it to go real real slow. When we found a bushing the correct size, Damn did that motor spin the engine nice and quick.

Moral: Check that the shaft is sitting snugly in the bushing.

cool, idnt even know there was a bushing in there, will have to take a looksy!