Alright so, story time

I bought a '98 GMC Jimmy for 500 that wouldn't start. You could hear the starter engage and grind off the flex plate. So I I what any sane person would do. Grabbed a half inch ratchet, a shallow 16, and a 3 inch ext and turned the crank. Turned the key, starter grabbed the flexplate and she fired right up. Drove her like that for a bit to get the feel of everything (Front end suspension rebuilds gonna be fun)

After about a week of running her I put her down,, disconnected the battery and went ahead and dropped the tranny, pulled the flex plate off, slapped the new one on (same teeth and size of ring gear) and torqued it to about 80, raised the tranny back in, and slapped a new starter on it. She started just fine the first couple of times then it did the same thing it was before.

Naturally I grabbed a set of shims from the closest autozone and shimmed the new starter. Still kicking off and grinding. So about a week went by with me constantly tinkering with the starter,, checking voltages and all that good stuff. Come to find out, I made the amateur mistake of putting it on backwards. Yee yee.

Uhh... went and tore it all back apart, and flipped the flex plate all in a dirt driveway. Aaand now my starter doesn't even engage. I haven't read voltages yet, but until then, basic ideas of what mightve happened will really help.

Thanks in advanced

I provided most information if I'm not mistaken