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The shop just called me with news of a show stopper. The engine backplate between the engine block and the bell housing is too thick. The starter is not reaching far enough into the bell housing to mate the gears properly. Can't get one within two days, so we're going to Plan B.

There's a big auto show coming up this weekend sponsored by MotorTrend (The First Hawaiian Bank International Auto Show at the Hawaii Convention Center). I'll end up leaving the slightly damaged flexplate in there, and install a used starter having a brand new starter drive gear on it. It'll cause more damage to the flexplate and it'll start to damage the new starter drive gear, but it should work for now. Both components need to be replaced anyway once the new engine backplate arrives from Summit.