ok here we go tried to fire my patriot 383 tonite..broke the ebay mini starter before it ever cranked over twice....soooooo we went to azone for a cheapy to get us by until we get another ministarter.....and i cranked it over a few times before lighting the fire..sounded ok...put in fuel..car started right up sounded great..had a fuel leak..shut off upon restart..starter sounded bad..almost like a hot engine with timing advanced to far..engine cool tho..retarded the timing (by hand) car started fine..again fuel leak..shut off now with a little heat the starter sounds really bad...the first second it turn ok then growling..have tried shimming all over the place..no luck...i just realized that i have just regular bolts on the starter not starter bolts..took the starter off teeth are starting to get chewed up..fly wheel looks ok..but i need to get this figured out asap...i have used regular bolts on a starter before with no issues..and in my 30 plus yrs of building sbc i have never had to shim a starter..so what the heck am i doing wrong here???..starter is staggered hole..i have been told to use a straight hole instead?..ideas..thanks