350 starter to flywheel clearance
 

I'm rebuilding a Jeep CJ7 and havea 350 small block LT1 with a 168 tooth flywheel and the new starter I put in only meshes about a third of the way with the flywheel. It has bolt holes for inline and offset starters and I put in an inline type. The clearance when retracted is over 0.3" while specs say 0.1" Would switching to an offset starter nake a difference, if not is there anything I can do about this? The flywheel mounts fine, but the engine was originally mated to an automatic/flexplate. The crank isn't different for an auto (sticks out further in the back) does it? Thanks!