Having problems with the starter on one motor. Blew the first one several weeks ago, Took all teeth off the bendix, cracked the housing on the nose, and put a slight bend in both bolts It started 4 times and is blown again. We will pull it tomorrow but expect the same.. Engine is a built Hawk 525SC with 8.5 to 9.0 compression. It does have CMI Headers with dry pipes. We seem to have negated the thought of hydro-lock as plugs are all identical and look normal, no water in the oil or cylinders, it has never hesitated to start , it fires instantly no hesitation like a stuck solenoid etc. it does make an intermittent noise like a chirp or screech that goes away as soon as it fires when starting and the next time sounds normal right up until its blown. Flywheel looks perfect. Thoughts, ideas???

Timing?

Locked at 32 with Daytona Box. it cranks super easy. And then it doesn't

Do you have start retard activated in the box?

I will confirm but they were set up by Tyler Crockett on the dyno.. I'm goigt to say yes. it also was fine for about 20 hours before this happened.

Is the starter shimmed correctly?

If the heavy old style block mount starter (ir: not mini high torque delco pg260) that uses a brace, but no brace installed, can do this.

It is the high torque

It was not shimmed prior to the freshening of the engines and we rebuilt the same starter. We are going to check that this time for sure. It does not have the noise that usually accompanies a shimming issue,

Are they MSD ?