I finally got my new starter today... I'm ashamed to say it's still not finished several hours later. I'm a big guy and it's hard for me to snake my arms through some of those crevices and twist in certain directions that you need to in order to access the starter. Carpal tunnel is also kicking my *** right now... I got it in, and it fires right up, but it makes a grinding noise when it's starting. I took it back out and checked the connections because I was afraid it wasn't sitting correctly and grinding against the flywheel or something. Checked alignment, and bolted it back up--but it still makes the noise.
Now I do want to mention one thing... The starter I pulled out might very well be the original starter, and there was only one bolt in it. It was only attached via the lower bolt near the transmission and oil pan. Obviously I want to get another bolt to install it the way it's meant to be, but it never made a grinding noise like that before and it was already only bolted in with one bolt.
Should I be alarmed? Or is it probably just that simple and I just need another bolt? ...or worse, am I going to have to return the starter and repeat this process again?
edit: after doing some searching, it does sound like flywheel grinding... I guess I need to look into shimming the starter. Agreed?