I also noticed significant friction plate material in the pan when I dropped it.

There was a flake of it about half the size of a dime when I opened it up.

It also had about a dozen small pieces of stuff resembling paraffin.

I placed a pretty big magnet on the pan to catch any metal that is floating around but I'm not sure what else to do.

It's used and it was half of what other used ones were going for.

My only concern is that it strands me someday without warning.

I'll keep an eye on it but at this point I am stuck with it unfortunately.

Could shimming the transmission do any good?

Could the torque converter sitting too deeply into the body of the transmission cause this?

Another thing I noticed is that the starter is making more noise than it did before like it's not quite lined up with the fly wheel.

Something's off and I'd really like to minimize any undue wear if possible.

It's too bad I've never torn open a transmission before because it's all Greek to me at this point.

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1993 W124 300D
-297K on the clock as I type this.