289 Starter needs to be changed out, anyone try a mini starter?

[tonys_shelby]

Am I seeing something wrong but in the pictures it looks like one starter has a bendix gear direction different then the other? One cut clock wise rotation and one cut for reverse?

[Jbrooks]

Well, I finally pulled the transmission and bell housing to find out what the problem was.  The ring gear (part FRG-157N) installed on my flywheel was too small (see picture of the inability of the starter bendix to contact the flywheel - should be the first picture).  To fix the situation, I had a backup 157 tooth flywheel ready to install.  I laid the two flywheels on top of each other perfectly, so that you can see the slight difference in diameters. 

I put everything back together, and I was able to start the car on the first try following the rebuild of the hipo 289.  Looking back, the ring gear was the only thing involving starting the car that changed during the rebuild, but it sure did suck dropping the 4 speed and bell housing after just installing it to get it fixed.  The positive part is, I have learned so much about my car and I have become a master of installing starters.  Thanks for all the help, and I wanted to share what the issue was.   

On the break in of the rebuild the car did great!  It was great to hear the solid lifters tapping.  Now i just need to tweak the timing a little and off she goes!

[tonys_shelby]

Glad to hear the news!