Flex plate question

[Triumph215]

My starter doesn

[Triumph215]

Still cannot get the hang of this apostrophe thing
Anyway, try as I might I cannot get my picture to upload so I will try to describe what I see.
My starter engages poorly, it was pretty clunky so I replaced it in hopes it would help and it did a little bit but it still grinds. I removed the inspection cover today to get a closer look. The flex plate is about as far away from the starter drive gear as it can get, there is about 3/8 of an inch between the drive gear and the flex plate. Full engagement is at the very end of the available travel. The other thing that seems odd to me is the teeth on the flex plate are beveled on the side away from the starter. The flex plate teeth on the side facing the starter are in decent shape and I wonder if the drive gear gets to spinning before it gets to the flex plate.
I

[wiley-moeracing]

may be wrong starter in there?

[johnsonic]

I think I read something on here about how the remans sometimes are for Fords, which don't have the right gear depth and the best bet is to get an original starter rebuilt. I don't have the link because it would have been a couple years ago.

[Triumph215]

Very interesting and that would explain a lot.
Does anyone have a measurement of the nose piece on a factory starter or knows where to send me looking for it?
That would allow me to begin searching for a proper starter. NAPA said they'd take mine back if I have a correct P/N but I have not been able to find one, still searching though.

[J20 project]

Two things from the ages come to mind. Yes,,,there are starters out there with shallow noses..but..

I also know that in some cases(I had one) there were slight differences between flexplates. I acquired a 304/th400/d20 that had the nailhead trans/adapter/crank spacer....The previous owner had put it together with small metal spacers between the flexplate and the torque converter...there was some difference, for some reason. I always wondered if they had not used a later flexplate(non adapter style) into that rig.

J20 project

[Triumph215]

I found starter nose dimensions in the TSM and will be measuring that today if I finish my ignition upgrade with time to spare. It also give a measurement from the mounting surface to the back of the flex plate and I'm curious to see what I have down there.
I am surprised there is a lot of discussion about starters and grinding but I cannot find a good P/N for the correct starter anywhere.
If I were to go try to find an OEM starter, how would I know it is the real thing without measuring it?