They also make bellhousing mounted Mini starters

don,t forget the ring gear goes on the inside for block mounted starters, and on the rear of the flywheel for bell housing mounted starters.

Offshore Score,

"don,t forget the ring gear goes on the inside for block mounted starters, and on the rear of the flywheel for bell housing mounted starters."

Man, I'm fighting an uphill frigging battle. If I have room, I'll use the top mount starter, which mounts on the outside of the flywheel. (will require a bit of "transom grinding clearance") Does this mean I have to flip the flywheel 180 deg. to get the ring gear on the outside? My engine builder has the flywheel, but to the best of my knowledge, one can't simply mount the flywheel backwards due to clearance...can they? (If I had the flywheel here, obviously I could answer for myself, but I don't)

Thanks again, in advance!

Nathan, you don't flip the flywheel, just the ring gear. I can't remember if they are all machined for it, but if not you should be able to find a local machine shop to cut the OD. If you have a problem, let me know we are in Ft Lauderdale and can handle it for you.

I've had both top and bottom mounted starters on engines with rear motor plates. On the bottom mounted starter, I just cut a hole in the plate. It worked fine.
If you switch to a top mounted, you'll have to get a new flywheel or have yours machined like Mbam pointed out. If you get a new one, make sure it's right for your application, ie Mark IV vs Gen V.
I hope you also realize you'll need a new starter if you go to the top mounted setup.
Gary

One other thing, depending on the bell housing and tranny you may need to have the bell housing machined to compensate for the thickness of the motor mount plate. I've seen this referred to, but never ran into the problem myself.
Gary

gil 1 piece motor mount
 

many aftermarket flywheels can be switched from a front mounted ring gear to a rear mounted ring gear by heating up the ring gear and sliding the ring gear back to the back edge of the flywheel...just make sure to heat the ring gear up evenly around it's circumference.... i've had to do this several times when switching from a bottom mount starter to a top mounted starter ....

Stop all this foolishness and step up to some outboards.