66 C10 with a 283 and 2004R

[72 Cheyenne Super]

Hello,

So this project has been one I have been working on for several months. I did all new suspension, Disk brake conversion, and a nice static drop to slam it down.. I just recently finished putting all new bearings in the rear end and buttoning that all up when a Starter problem began.. I found that there was not the correct starter bolts and the starter must have shifted and it cracked on one of the bolt holes so I went out and got a new starter.

I have a 283 and a 2004r tranny, the starter (straight across bolts) with the 153 tooth flex plate and I have shimmed it every possible way I could think of, and the gears seems to still not line up right. It will turn over but sounds like it is struggling really hard (like the battery is dead, but its got a healthy 12V, even tried two batteries) and barely will start sometimes. I bought a new flex plate (made sure its not on backwards), new starter, new starter bolts and have tried everything to get this thing lined up right, but its like the bendex gets stuck in the flex plate even though there is plenty of gap in the gears. Not sure where to go from here....

To add on top of my starter problems, the Rear Main seal seems to all of the sudden picked up a huge leak and its pissin out oil now, the Holley Carb started coughing real bad and spits and stumbles when I try to Start like somebody swapped spark wires or the timing got all out of wack, so ya that so that doesnt help. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

-TW