starter 429 feedback please

[keane]

Hello to all, haven't been on the site much lately, but am now close to starting my 429/c6 in my dax cobra build, anyone who has read my previous posts knows I have had major problems with engine mounts etc. Anyway I finally got a starter from alterstart in Dallas, it is tiny and gives me the clearance with the sanderson headers I have,I put the starter on and turned the engine over, there was a horrible grinding noise,on taking the starter off one of the ears was broken!!!!!I had that welded and tried again, still no joy, if you crank the engine over by hand without the starter fitted no noise, put the starter back noise again,it sounds like the block plate but I cannot see any witness marks, I put tape over the starter and fitted it turned over,removed,checked for marks nothing! has anyone else experienced similar problems? also are these gear reduction starters far noisier than stock? finally would there be a problem in starting up without the t/convertor fitted? I haven't finished with the tranny yet so was going to bolt up minus t/c and do the initial start up and shake down as the body won't fit with eng fitted,so it will be coming out soon. I'm picking the body up on thurs this week so need to move on,sorry to bang on, feedback please. Thanks as always. Dave Keane uk