Hmm... well I bought an NA tranny today from a 90, so i will put that on

Could that solve it?

 

TTT?

 

it sounds like you've got it, and a smaller diameter flywheel would be the only thing that makes sense at this point...you can't just look through the starter mount hole & tell if the starter's drive gear is gonna hit the flywheel or not? should be able to "eyeball" it...