Issues installing my 727 on my 343

Ok so I have a conversion kit to swap a 727 onto my 343. Conversion kit does allow me to bolt it right up with no problems but I am having problems with my alignment holes on the flex plate. Also it appears that the torque converter does not snug right up to flex plate.
The reason I am swapping is due to someone used a 6 cylinder flex plate and transmission on the car prior to me getting it. The flex plate was busted so I found a used one that is said d to be for a 343. It does look like the 343 plate in the flex plate sticky. However it appears to be a style for the starter to be facing towards rear of car instead of the front based on the taper on the edge of the ring gear faces the rear of the car. Did AMC ever run their starters this way? Could my alignment issues for the torque converter be due to it is a different style? Any help is appreciated.

May seem obvious, but do you have the flax plate mounted the right way around?

I'm using a 72 727 so my starter is the old style. I still wonder about the flex plate ring gear is reversed. Yes I tried flipping it around but the the flex plate won't fit as it hits backing plate before making contact with the crank so I know it's correct. There is not much info on this conversion. The post above has the guy going in a different direction than me and he fortunately has a 360 so swapping flex plates would be easy unlike this darn 343.

It is the adaptor from American Performance which is what I called the conversion since that is its function. Everything I have gathered from the few posts on the net I had seen did not mention the need to swap flex plates. The adaptor is not to bolt a flex plate on but rather a spacer that bolts to the flex plate that the shaft from the torque converter rides in. There are two other shims that bolt between the transmission and the engine so everything is equaled out for clearance. I'm going to take the 360 flex plate off the ambassador tomorrow and see if how you describe works. In theory it sounds correct if I reverse the spacer. If it mates up then I will get it rebalanced.

A large issue is I never had the right flex plate or transmission to begin with as the previous owner used a six cylinder flex plate and transmission. The flex plate I sourced from a guy on this board has the ring gear facing backwards so I wonder what the heck that came out of. It matches the photos on the flex plate id sticky on this forum for a 343 but I don't know of any AMC with the starter facing the rear of the car. I'm eventually swapping the 343 out for a 401 I have so I don't want to buy a Borg transmission. I already had the adaptor so was going to give it a try. Everything mates up clearance wise except of course the bolt holes for the converter.

Edited by 69javND - Jul/30/2016 at 11:53pm

Uncljohn, has given another bit of info, on what can be done. like I said through my previous posts, you need a TF flywheel. Though it will need to be balanced to the 343 BW flex plate spec. I would figure a 360 flywheel would be a good start.