Transmission gurus...TH350 with no filter for 900 miles, bad news?

OK, I had the brilliant idea of searching on Youtube for videos of all the possible culprits, and found this one with the exact sound...looks like the problem may be solved:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUKj4KDKV24

I'm almost positive it's a bendix/spring issue, and the gear may be slipping forward and contacting the flexplate. I'm gonna check the starter in the morning and chuck a new one on there if need be. I'll report back to y'all so this post can possibly help someone else in the future. Stoked.

 

OK, so took the old starter off and found a lot of movement in the shaft that the bendix moves on, and the edge of the bushing at the end of the shaft(facing the back of the flexplate, at the end of the snout) was rounded off from flexplate contact. I threw on a new starter and the noise became constant, that bushing was touching the flexplate at it's edge. So I checked the clearance between the starter shaft and the flexplate, and it was tight...I couldn't get an 1/8" alan wrench in between the two. So, I shimmed the starter to get more clearance and drove the car. No noise yet, I'll drive it a bit more and see if the problem is totally fixed...I think(and hope) it is. I'll be back...

 

OK, problem fixed. Just drove a bunch with no noise. It was a combo of a loose starter shaft and unshimmed starter. I shimmed up a new one with just over an 1/8" clearance, done deal. Funny thing is, the problem led to me discovering the lack of a trans. filter, which was nice. Thanks for all the help and suggestions, it's greatly appreciated.

 

Sounds like a fix it yourself deal. I had a rotating clicking sound as I would drive slowly thru my subdivision. I think it is the counter weights on the governor. Put a new one in and does the same.