Should Starter Plate Be Flat ? Mine is not

[rhodes2010]

The metal plate between the transmission and the engine block.

Some here call it the Starter Plate, the starter fits in to this plate
when being bolted to the transmission.

Mine is not perfectly flat, if you can see it, the picture shows the lower half
of the circle is bent in towards the flywheel.

We have the transmission out looking for the source of grinding noise when starting. Plenty of posts on here about grinding noise.

Tomorrow I will be at the machine shop looking to get a new 106 tooth ring gear installed. The starter is new, and this plate...
I could pound it flat or replace it.

An online parts catalog called it a: plate,cylinder block,RR (MD167356).
We have the AWD GSX 1996. Manual Transmission.

 

[cyclonekid77]

Yes it should be flat. I just ordered one brand new from extremepsi for $21 last week. Appears the 2g one is even cheaper. Here you go http://www.extremepsi.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=23420&cat=958&page=2

 

[rhodes2010]

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[JStrateger]

Mine kinda looked like that, I placed it on a flat surface and beat it with small body hammer until it was straight.

 

[rhodes2010]

One more note... I lined up the starter with the plate. After pounding flat.

This plate has the upper/inside bolt hole modified, so my starter lines up with the upper hole top edge.

But the plate lines up with the lower edge of the hole on the transmission.

What this means is that the plate (and probably the engine) came
from a turbo FWD GST and not a AWD GSX.
A FWD has a different plate and a larger flywheel, so the different hole position to accomodate the larger diameter flywheel.

But the starter hole (the big hole) does not line up wth the drilled in lower hole for the smaller flywheel.
Maybe someone pounded in a lip to change the size of the hole.

I thought about grinding the hole for the starter to let it fit, but decided instead to just buy a new plate. The plate is cheap, and it wil be clean and right when done.

So, my point is, you can re-drill/elongate/dremel/grind the starter bolt hole,
but you have to change the large starter hole too.

So if you transplant the engine from AWD to FWD or from FWD to AWD, use the starter plate from the original car, not the donor engine.

Just takes two simple bolts and the plate comes right off.

This topic is covered very well here on many posts. The which flywheel , which plate, .. (always the same starter).
Seems to me you could use the smaller 106 tooth flywheel on both FWD and AWD and use the plate for AWD on both.

Maybe someone can tell us why you must have the larger flywheel with 110 teeth on the FWD.

Except the fact that is is way less confusing when you go to buy parts if everything is right.

But why didn't they just use one flywheel/clutch/disc/starter-plate ? Would have been easier.

 

[lewishamilton]

Is there an easy way to know whether to you know whether you have an awd or fwd starter plate?

I'm having problems with the starter engaging the flywheel and am trying to troubleshoot the issue

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

That picture just looks like it was installed for many years and the starter has been removed/torqued down to it multiple times, causing a flex/torque in the material.

Nothing to worry about - this is bound to happen. Either flatten it or replace it.

 

[redmayns]

it might be for a gst, i did that last week and my starter would grind wen starting, make sure its the plate for a gsx

 

[jdxnc]

That is 100% sure a FWD plate. I modded mine to fit the AWD trans when I did the swap, slot that one bolt hole and enlarged the starter opening. That person did it the lazy way and just smashed it in.

 

[bryanwheat]

It's not just the bolt hole location that is different. The location of the hole that aligns the starter is slightly different so it will hold the starter at a slight angle. Replace the plate with the awd plate and you will likely not have these problems any more. The primary function of this plate is to align the starter.

That picture just looks like it was installed for many years and the starter has been removed/torqued down to it multiple times, causing a flex/torque in the material.

Nothing to worry about - this is bound to happen. Either flatten it or replace it.

You can remove and install the starter 1,000 times and it will not distort the starter plate. IT gets sandwiched between the transmission and starter so it will be held in a flat position the whole time.