[briney]

been messing around with my starter. the adaptor i got made was machined wrong. the starter is now too close to the engine. one solution i came up with is to use a smaller drive pinion. will the slightly slower crank speed from a 12 tooth pinion ( as opposed to 13. ) affect the starting at all ? this was the only drawback i could come up with.

 

[LincTex]

will the slightly slower crank speed affect the starting at all ?

Doubt it. These engines will still fire off with a pretty slow cranking speed, but I doubt you'll have any problems starting.