... the culprit the hole in the plate is supposed to align the starter. ...
This is exactly what the issue is supposed to be.
There's the seemingly mythological "stock" shoulder bolts for mounting the starter, but the parts catalogue and all of the stock setups people have found use fully threaded bolts. I couldn't find a shoulder bolt that would fit.
Stud for upper: no go. I forgot the bolt starts from opposite sides for mounting the starter.
Stud for lower: carriage bolt with the found head ground off but leaving the square portion is a no go - square portion won't clear the bell housing when put in from the housing side. Had to grind the corners off the square head to take it back to the thread thickness.
Success!!!Just a tiny bit of the former noise. Doesn't sound like anything is getting trashed. Starts sooner/faster. People no longer look when I start it.
Lower bolt replaced by stud, with
threaded-sleeve to function like a shoulder bolt:
- carriage bolt, head ground down until it's as narrow as the threads, then cut a slot for a screwdriver in what is left of the head
- screw into the bell housing lower bolt hole from the housing side, with a drop of reversible thread-locker on the last few threads
- 3/8" fender washer 1.5 mm thick as a shim goes on the stud
- DIY threaded-sleeve:
- the hole in my starter flange for the lower bolt is ~1.7 mm wide, 3/8"+ deep
- 3/8" T-bolt, flange ground off, height left is 9/32 to 5/16 (sloppy grinding, but it's less than the depth)
- narrowed the resulting threaded-sleeve down to 1.5 mm (using a drill with bolt & sleeve and a flat file) - the "good" end (unground) of the threaded-sleeve goes on the stud first, threaded down so it secures the shim/washer finger tight
Starter Install:
- Starter easily fits in place, with the lower bolt hole over and on the stud & threaded-sleeve with the starter flange up against the shim/washer
- support the starter and get the lock washer and nut on the lower stud finger tight, then ensuring the starter flange is against the plate/shim/washer, tighten until the lock washer is slightly compressed
- starter can move slightly with the play between the stud, sleeve and flange hole
- if the locator/plate hole is worn oversized, the starter can pivot on the lower stud within that hole - place the upper bolt through its hole, placing the 1.5 mm thick fender washer as shim/washer on the bolt
- hold the starter tight in place and start the upper bolt
- when the upper bolt is finger tight, the starter is sitting with its weight taking up any play between holes and upper bolt or lower stud&sleeve
- tighten upper to firm
- tighten lower beyond firm to snug
- torque upper, then torque lower
NOTE:
I don't believe the fender washer as a shim is an essential element of this working; but I might be wrong. I had some improvement using a 1.1 mm regular sized washer, so I wanted to try this with a larger washer for more stability. 1.5 mm was what I had in the bin. As per the MSR, you have to check the extension of your starter's Bendix vs. the distance from the locator plate to the flexplate teeth. A shim could come into play to allow you to adjust the extenion to fall within the range specified.
There may be some optimizing possible by moving the starter within the play available with this setup. If one's results weren't as good as mine with the above stetup, one could try adding a threaded-sleeve to the upper bolt.
I am amazed that given the play in the bolts to holes, such a little difference has so much influence.
The way I did it, the location is determined by the lower stud with threaded-sleeve with its play having the starter "down" and the upper play places the starter down and out from the flex plate as its play "pivots" the starter outwards on the lower stud's sleeve. I think.
The mounting/locator plate surface to flexplate teeth is 21.10 mm. That's the upper limit in the TSM & MSR (19.6 to 21.1 mm). I'm using a washer as shim of 1.5 mm, and there's no longer paint on the plate. I'll have to revisit that shim thickness after some days or weeks, to check the starter Bendix for wear marks. I'll adjust, or make a full size shim or remove the shim/washers.
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