Is this correct? I swapped a 2.8 for a 350 from a 77 truck. I have the 153 tooth flywheel my engine block has 3 starter holes. I tried the original offset hole starter that fits into the bell housing but the holes do not line up, I picked up a starter from a wrecker with mounting hole straight across from each other but it does not fit into bell housing. Will a mini starter from a 95 v8 bird work? Or do I need to drill and tap a 4th hole? Someone please help.

 

You need to drill & tap the hole.

The hole that's there now, is too far from the crank; it would have to go RIGHT DIRECTLY THROUGH THE MIDDLE of the starter drive for the smaller flywheel. There needs to be one more hole, inboard of the inner one that's there now.

People who haven't ever done it, will tell you all about that there's some magic starter that "ought to" work. Especially they'll talk about aftermarket mini-starters that "the catalog says" will work. What those people don't realize, is that the catalog LEAVES OUT the part about "if the block has all the holes". There is no starter that will bolt to the early model bolt pattern and fit the late model flywheel.

 

K I understand that point, The only thing I guess is there must be two different size starters with the holes across from each other then right? Cause the one I have now, the nose cone will not fit into the bellhousing. If this is correct what starter application is recommended?

 

Yes there are 2 such starters, that came stock on these cars.

In the early years especially, auto trans cars had one with a larger nose. It will not fit into a 5-spd BH, although I've heard you can grind on something to make it fit. I cannot confirm or deny this from personal experience.

The 5-speed starter will fit either auto or stick cars.

At some point later in the life of that setup, they dropped the "different" auto starter, and they started all being the same.

Sounds like you have one of the auto-only ones. Get a 5-speed one.