Michael,

I bought one of the ND starters and didn't use it because the snout was too short to reach the ring gear.  If you notice the picture titled "Surpluscenter dot com12VDC NIPPENSENSO.jpg", you'll see that the starter is mounted on the inside of the adapter plate.  My guess is this was done to get the starter gear to mesh with the flywheel ring gear.  Maybe I should try mounting mine that way too.  Only problem might be getting the big end through the little hole.

 

Mark S.