[RICK LAKE]

ERA Chas Chas some starters have adjustments that you can move the drives in or out. My Tilton has 2 types of shims. Ones for the housings and some for the drive engagement of the bendix. Some starters are preset and have no adjustments and you just hope than they are centered on the block and give a good contact pattern from the gears. You can unhook the soleiniod from the motor on my starter. If there is a heavy wire or metal plate coming from the starter motor you can do the same with a little work. You can then turn the key and only the solenoid will engage the starter drive without cranking the motor over. The other way is on some staters you can get a set of needle nose pliers and pull out the drive without turning the key at all. This will also work for check the bendix drive air gap. If your bellhousing is centered on the block, the starter should be in the ball park. My Lakewood bell was .038" out and this killed my first starter drive. It was too tight and jammed the bendix and could not fully engage and sometimes on release. Don't go crazy over it. As long as it's in the ball park you should be fine. Rick L. Ps add the third bolt to the starter. It will rock over time and loosen the other 2 bolts. It will also angle the drive outward when cranking the motor if the gears have a wide air gap and the engagement is only 1/4 of the teeth being used. This could also break the teeth on the flywheel ring over time.