Success, Thanks again, lads.
I assume that one could separate the rubber from the plate if the recoil housing is over-torqued. Seems like that would be an easy mistake to make.
Is there a torque value specified for those bolts? (looked it up. 48-72 in/lb)
Picked up this used motor. Noticed the recoil starter mount was detached at the back. Everything else checked out, good compression, ran well ect. So I bought it with the intention of fixing the issue as it seems minor.
Can find all sorts of info on the recoil starter itself but not much on the...