Ok I have sandrail with a Corvair motor in it, Drove it for many years with no problems.
Well my son in law came for a visit and I let him drive it. when he came back from his ride, I seen him pop the clutch out and it stalled.
Now I have not got it to start since then. I never had any grinding sounds or anything like that before. Anyway when I got in to take it to put it away it would not engage the flywheel. I thought well the solenoid went out and replaced it. Still would not engage, Just free spinning. So I pulled it out and took and had the starter rebuilt. I went and picked it up and put it back on and it's still free spinning. So I pulled it out again and as my luck runs I set it down and it rolled over bumped something an broke a ear off where the bolt goes thru. So I tried to order a new one which no one had. I ended up buying a High torque starter, very nice too. I installed that, well now it's grinding. so I tried to shim it but then it didn't even make contact so I took out the shims and put it back on still grinding. Well I have built a lot of stuff back in the day but this is my first Corvair. After listening to others talking about how the fly wheels can come loose since there are 3 pieces to them and throw everything off center. Could this have caused to pressure plate to shift enough, to where the starter is not making good contact with the ring gear. I looked at the teeth on both the Pressure Plate and Starter and they are all good, heck the starter is brand new like I said. And like I said this only happened after I seen him coming to a stop and he popped the clutch and it stalled and it has not started since. This is why I am thinking the fly wheel may have started to come apart and is throwing everything off. I tried to move it thru the open starter hole, but could not. Still, something else is going on here. Anyone else ever see anything like this or have the same problem??? In any case I think I am gonna have to pull this thing apart, just hoping there's something stupid that I might have missed that would be easier. Thanks Kurt