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Testing Testing
Below, please see results of the Playdoh test. To me it looks like engagement was observed while doing the slow manual push (I see ring teeth protrusions next to the pinion gear's indents). Maybe it's too deep as you suggest and shimming will help?? I may also be seeing evidence that the starter's pinion gear is smacking into the outside face of the ring gear's teeth (1st pic). Note: to be clear the starter used did not have a modified face or mounting holes in this experiment.

New Starter
Although the face of the new starter and the solenoid trigger wirer hookup is in a different position than the previous starters, the starter fits quite nicely (no shims added yet). Unfortunately, upon turning the key, the same spinning up but no engagement behavior is observed.

Next Step
Add shims as you described, using the new unmodified starter.

Looks like the starter gear is hitting the transmission bellhousing inside on the bottom, but they may have occurred from the previous asymmetrical shimming with washers. Try some clay down there and see if it is deformed when you extend the gear. Otherwise, it looks very tight laterally. Are the block adapter bolt heads obscured by the transmission bell? You may be able to shift the bell on the adapter as well.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

I think I may have found your problem, the black leads are bolted to the red leads!

In all seriousness won't/isn't the bellhousing doweled to both the block and trans? The new motor looks like it has a machined front spigot to locate into the adaptor plate, what dimensions are these critical mating features - i.e. what is the fit like before the 2 starter retaining bolts are done up? Tight like a tiger or sloppy like my welding?

An oem would have the trans indexed by the dowels (to an extent) in the block, and the starter would mount to the block directly or the trans. Ideally, this would have two sets of dowels; one set for the block to the adapter/starter mount and the other to align the trans input shaft to the crank. It maybe aligned well enough and based on the trans input shaft engagement, but if there are no dowels for the trans, it may be clocked a few degrees off on the adapter plate, bring the inside of the bell too close to the starter gear when it is extended. Also without dowels, the distance could change over time, held by the trans bolts clamping ability and bolt hole tolerance, with torque loads working against that.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

I think this may indeed be the culprit. The clearance on the tranny mounting bolt boss seems to close for comfort. Upon blowing up the lower pic I see some horizontal striations in the boss (may indicate some digging by the pinion gear when engaged.)

I will ask Kennedy whether these adapters were sent with the tranny/adapter dowels.

Do you see any issues with attempting to Dremel the boss down a little?

I'd remove the trans bolt visible in the last pic and compare the bolt shank od to the trans bell hole id. I would make sleeves to help center the bolt in the hole, all the way around the trans bell or at least one position on each side. Shank od minus hole id divided by two for max wall thickness. It can be plastic or metal. It can be the wrong size but the right wall thickness and slotted to remove some material and squeezed into the hole. Use your dial caliper from page one.

I'd definitely smooth the damage caused by the gear before realigning. A 3/8 drill and a 1/4 shank, double cut carbide rotary file/porting bit works well for that.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

OK this makes sense. We are thinking the bell housing bolt holes are bigger than the adapter holes & mounting bolts and the bell housing may not be aligned properly as a result, and it could potentially be moving??

Just to be clear, I can do this with each individual bolt hole one at a time, and I don't necessarily need to do it simultaneously?? And If I do it, one at a time, this will prevent any further movement correct?

Thanks for the tip on the rotary file for the drill.

Yes. You could just loosen all the bell bolts, leverage the engine to rotate ccw as viewed from the front, then retighten the bolts and it should hold for a period of time. We are trying to figure out a way to keep it aligned without the audi dowels.

One bolt at a time with all the bell bolts loosened a few turns and a small jack/2x4 to help align the one hole with the sleeve bush installed so the bolt can be threaded. Easier to do with the audi dowels fitted to the adapter plate but that is not an option. The large holes without a step in ID can be used to locate with a sleeve but I don't know what the hole looks like on the bolt head side. Maybe take a pic of a couple holes with the bolts out. I want to see if the bolt washer sits on a recessed step in the bell hole. You may be able to better align by using oem audi hardware instead of universal fasteners.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

OK Thanks. I will give this a shot sometime.

Mounting Boss Reduction
So I did take a rotary rasp and sander to the tranny mounting hole boss. I brought the mound down maybe 1-2 mm (fairly minimal but enough to clear the pinion). See before and after pics. I thought that might do it, but upon replacing the starter and firing it up I observed the same behavior. No engagement.

New Experiment
I decided to try painting the flywheel, tranny mounting boss, and tip of the pinion gear to see where the contact points, if any, were. See pics below.
Looks like the starter pinion gear teeth tips are smacking into the flywheel tooth/teeth only (& not the mounting boss).

Next Step
Add shims to unmodified new starter to improve mounting position (further away from flywheel face).
Continue to shave older starter to improve mounting position (further away from flywheel edge).

Any other thoughts out there??

There are cable cameras used to inspect pipes. They plug into a usb port for viewing on a laptop. You could fish one through a different opening in the bell and tape it to the flywheel after checking that the teeth are in focus, then manual extend the gear again to see if it is meshing or not real time. The camera has a light built in of course.

You could also remove the gear from the bendix, turn it around to face the opening, then hold it meshed into the wheel to check the fit.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Yeah, I thought about the camera inspection but didn't quite know how to approach it (concerns regarding access and the loose wiring hanging around the tranny).....and.... Believe it or not, I actually own an endoscope camera (by Endosnake), but I've never gotten it to work right. You've inspired me to try harder and make it operational.

If you can't fix what you have, they are about $20 on amazon. I forget where I bought mine.

https://www.amazon.com/Inspection-Fantr ... 3904&psc=1

Good news!? I spy block dowels on page six (at least on the passenger side).

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Wow, you were deep in the thicket on that one!! I appreciate all the energy you have devoted to my problem.
So on page 16, I now see some cylindrical nubs protruding from the tranny side of the adapter plate. Those are the alignment dowels, right?? That's good news!

More good news! I got the endoscope camera working and hope to have some video's to share later today.

No success with the camera's access to the starter/flywheel area. The camera cord is not easily directed. I may drill an observation portal (~1/8") in the side of the tranny bellhousing to facilitate viewing access.

I also spent time doing some additional filing & sanding on the older starter mounting areas and bolt holes, and also added one of the shims to move the starter pinion gear away from the flywheel. No luck with engagement yet. I'll keep at it.

It looks like the bendix gear is too close as kennedy suggested with the starter lip grinding. If this is the case, the adapter was not machined correctly. I reccomend you remove the adapter plate to return to Kennedy if they are willing for checking and rework if needed or purchase a replacement of just the adapter.

Because of the block dowels, replacement would likely require flywheel removal for clearance.

Another alternative is to sacrifice the old starter by removing the outer lip and rely on the bolts to locate the body, to test if this cures the problem. This will weaken the starter mounting.

It doesn't look like your previous attempt at machining the lip did much more than scratch the surface. I don't know why you tried to remove material from the center lip. The material should come from outboard of a vertical line when installed.

Once you have a starter than works every time, there are different ways to strengthen the modded starter or rotary file the outer edge of the pocket in the installed adapter so a standard starter will fit without mods.

The quick fix is to pull the transmission and flywheel, buy another adapter and compare them side by side. The starter engagement should have been checked with a drill bit before initial assembly. It can be easily, this time around.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12