Cylinder Block/Starter Plate Thickness?

[ReYnd]

This car... I can't even fathom what previous owner(s) have done to it. Whatever. It's getting there. If you guys can give me just a little more assistance, it'll be done in a couple days.

My cylinder bock plate has been torn out in the starter area, otherwise known as the starter plate. The absence of that little bit of shimming and support brought the starter close enough and allowed it to sag just enough for the flywheel to shave a tiny little bit off of the housing.

I'm not a fan of that, or the ungodly sound it makes. But I'm also not a fan of trying to wrangle the motor and transmission out to put in a new plate. Mine looks like it was assembled, and then the starter area was torn off. With rather limited (yet growing) skill and knowledge, I'm not capable of such work. But I would be capable of adding a shim/support for the starter.

Now for the questions. How thick is the cylinder block plate in this area? It looks to be about 1/32", certainly thinner than 1/16". If I could find a ring of that thickness, and with an inner diameter to match the original (that measurement would be useful as well), it would be simple to fabricate a replacement support until I can get it done properly. Drill a couple holes through the ring for the starter bolts, stick it on, torque it down, give 'er a shot.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

Buy another starter plate. They can't be much. FWD/AWD are different. Pull the trans, install plate, install trans.

 

[SrKegler]

You can use body shims in an emergency. Just loosen the starter bolts, push the shim in, then tighten the bolts back down.

 

[ReYnd]

A couple 1/16" thick washers were ground to fit, bolted on and have been working like a charm. I take it easy on the bumps because there's even less support, but at least there's no grinding. I suspect the person who put the car back together only had a 2g plate, stuck it in there and made it fit. On the way home, the truck towing my car struck a rather large deer at a rather high rate of speed. So maybe the jolt loosened whatever had been shimming the starter previously. I hate when people take on such a big task and don't bother to do it right. I'll be buying the plate along with some other parts from DSM Graveyard pretty soon, so I'll have it whenever the thing is taken apart.
Thanks for the help guys, and happy New Year!