Starter not engageing flywheel?

[dlotz]

SO when I connected the trans/bell/starter to the block I checked to make sure the starter shaft was long enough for the starter gear to travel down and reach the flywheel and it did when I moved the starter gear down the shaft with my fingers.

Now the motor is in and wiring hooked so up I decided to give it a bump to see if it would engage and try to turn over.......
It didn't! @^#%&!*

All I heard when I turned the key was one 'loud' click from the remote solenoid on the firewall and then a faint spinning sound. Not the turn over sound I was expecting.

It sounds as if the starter gear is not traveling 'out' far enough to grab the flywheel OR it is traveling out far enought but the gear is to small to engage the flywheel.

I have the Quicktime 6056 bell, Ram flywheel for FE and a plain starter from autozone for a 65 Galaxie 500 (Ford 427 big block)

Any thoughts??? Crappy starter? Not enough voltage to the starter?