Ok little background for those who don't know. 1983 was the only year of the T5 and the manual linkage z-bar clutch. Because of this, it uses a special bell housing used only for that year (P/N 14060627).

That's all well and good. But unfortunately the pocket for the starter nose on the bell housing is small and curved in so the LT1 starter doesn't fit.

I'm running a stock 1983 starter which weighs a ton and gets heat soaked from my headers.

Anyone with the 83 bell that has an aftermarket starter... what are you using?

Or, how did you modify the bellhousing to fit a regular any-other-year SBC starter?

 

What about using a starter that doesn't have a nose/snout ? 1996 corvette starter.

 

I've never fit a starter into a Z-Bar bell-housing,... but:

I can't tell Ya' how many bell-housings I've seen with the starter notch cut-off in order to fit a big starter. Used to see it all the time when guys used an automatic starter after a stick conversion rather than buying the proper (smaller) manual starter.