Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I think the flexplate on my TH400 is mounted backwards. I put on a mini-starter at least 6 years ago and all was working fine until yesterday when I got back home and my '40 Chevy wouldn't start.... just grinds.

When I crawled underneath the car I saw chewed up teeth on the flywheel, but also noticed that the starter pinion only engages about 25% of the teeth on the plate. I bought an identical starter last month just to have as a spare on road trips, and it has the same amount of throw as the starter that is on the car.

Looking at the following picture:


The raised areas on the flexplate are facing the crank, which I believe is incorrect, and could have moved the plate farther from the engine and is keeping my starter pinion from engaging all of the flexplate teeth. Does it sound feasible that if mounted backwards it would still (sort of) work without warping the flexplate?

Also another question concerning this flexplate:


Is this a universal style that would work as a replacement for my plate that only has three raised areas and holes to mount to the converter?

Thanks!