haha ya there is a difference between an auto and a manual tranny block plate. I found that out the hard way.. When I tried to put my clutch cable in and it wouldn't work cause the plate was in the way
I was just reading through this thread and I just noticed, I actually looked at buying the car that PKOVACK has in his garage. The biggest reason I didnt buy it was because of a non-complete 5-sp swap in it. Neutral saftey was missing and starting issues galore. Im glad I didnt get it else it may be me on here complaining instead of him.
if your top bolt is stripped and the block plate is partially broken then you should change both of them. i had a starter issue and went through 6 starters before i changed the block plate and bell housing. my bottom hole strippied out and i re-tapped it but it must not have been lining up right. thats whats probably happening with your starter. i would change the bell housing. you can get them from ebay or craiglist fairly cheap.