Greg Fletcher
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This happened on my old JH and is quite common on high mileage Jensen Healeys. This is one of my biggest pet peeves on this car- Lotus, in their infinite wisedom didn't bother to machine a shoulder on the flywheel to keep the ring gear in place even though it appears to be common practice to do that for the last 50 years. Over many years of starting, the ring gear will move until it gets to the point where a section of it, on one side, is too far away from the starter gear to make positive contact causing what you are describing.
The fix is to remove the flywheel, push the ring gear back into position and spot weld four or five places all around. I've heard one or two clubber that were able to make the fix without removing the flywheel. I recommend that anyone getting their engine rebuilt also get their ring gear spot welded to avoid this.
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