help! starter woes kicking me.

[steve53]

I am in the middle of a '65 250 swap right now on my '53 3100. I have run into a stumbling block with the starter. Here's what I have so far for ingredients.

I used the tech tip over at stovebolt to get some insight.
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/en...lhousings.html

I have the '65 250 and original '53 3 speed all hooked up good with manual clutch. I used one of the bell housing cast numbers in the stovebolt tip. I got the motor mounts worked out good. Everything is in the truck ready to start for the first time. Heres where my problem "starts" haha.

The starter is missing the flywheel by a finger width. The gear shoots out of the starter far enough to come into contact with the teeth on the flywheel but it is too far off to the side to mesh.

I tried moving the starter close enough to the flywheel so it will engage but there is no meat left on the bellhousing when positioned that close to drill and tap new holes for the starter.

It seems I have a 153 tooth flywheel but I am not 100% sure. I just counted teeth between pressure plate mounting bolts and multiplied by 6.

What starter can I use that will end my woes? The bell housing has 3 holes to mount the starter. I used a starter from one of the numbers on the stovebolt tip as well. It originally had a smaller gear in the starter but I put a bigger gear in it and it just got me marginally closer. I got the biggest gear in there that will fit so I cant get any better in that regard.

Help!